This was e-mailed to me ( Former Marine Had Hands Raised When Shot )and I was floored when I read it because it hits close to home . Not because the victim was a Marine and not because I am a cop hater (which I am not if they prove themselves as true public servants ) But because of a friend of my wife's husband is a policeman . So far in his 2 1/2 years on the force , he has shot and killed an unarmed citizen and ran down an innocent pedestrian walking across a parking lot in his cruiser and has got off both times without the first charge or disciplinary action taken against him . Our local force is filled with corruption and this "blue wall of silence "(which doesn't seem to be the case in this article) sickens me . It seems to me that if one has sworn to uphold the laws and protect the public would want to remove the "bad apples" from their police force , not protect them . We do this everyday in our Fraternity who expects the very best of our members and when we find one who is no longer worthy , they are removed from our ranks , it is even done in our armed forces who are sworn to protect the freedoms of our country . Why does this not happen with the police or the government ? Maybe I am expecting to much of those who are paid to look after the wellfare of the citizens .
I do not think you are asking too much. I think with all the technology today it gets captured more, and is more "in your face". It is too bad there are not more quality officers out there.
The cops in my town have an air of "I am better than you " about them and have no time for anyone except pretty girls . They go to the mall and shop , rent movies or go park somewhere and shoot the breeze when they are supposed to be patrolling our city while on duty . We had a local sheriff who was wonderful , he got out with the citizens and shook the hands of those he came in contact with . He always had a smile and a hello for all he seen and always made sure he asked all he talked to how their day was going . Even those he arrested , lets say those addicted to drugs , he always offered to get them information or help them get into detox facilities and would check in on them if they accepted his help . They don't have many like him come along . From what I have noticed is most like the power the uniform gives them and this is the wrong reason for wanting to become a police officer . They should take the words to SERVE and PROTECT literally . To treat the citizens as what they are (this comes from the sheriff I was talking about , not from me) , their employers , they work for us and should treat us that way .
I have ran into a few nice ones here like you have mentioned. Most however are not so nice. They sort of have that attitude you described. Two were fired recently for clearing calls without going to them, and another went to lunch during a bank robbery. They both sued for wrongful termination and blamed it on them wanting to get a union started. That later being what the papers reported, not that they were not doing their jobs.
Sounds about right . Oh well , what can we do . I was ran off the road by a cop in his cruiser not long ago while he was texing while driving . I called his superiors and was told to mind my own business . I asked the Captain if we had no say so in how the police conduct themselves and he said no , and left me with this little piece of information , he stated that they only had to enforce the laws and left the rest open for interpretation .
Well I will be the first to admit. I am not a saint. I've done my fair share of speeding. I have talked on the phone while driving, although now I have it setup to go through my car stereo system in the truck. I leave any texting though to when I am stopped at a light, or hand it to my wife and tell her what to time. But some of the stuff I see people do is crazy. I'm not sure if I notice it more because I sit higher up, or if it is becoming worse. I've seen cops typing on their laptops while driving. The laptops sit on top of the center console here. And I've seen worse from none police officers. I saw one girl that surprised the heck out of me. Drinking what I think was coffee (it was morning time 9ish) phone to her ear, and every once in a while I saw her lean forward to check the makeup she was putting on. Even though I make my living through technology, I often wish we did not have it.
I used to be a Deputy Sheriff. I was also a Jailer, and member of their Tactical Unit. I agree with you very strongly on the issue you have put forth my brother. I detested and still do other Deputies & Policemen with that "holier than thou" attitude or ones with the "John Wayne" syndrom (not intended to shun this brother). I knew my uniform was to help indentify to the public or inmates that I was a public servant with authorities to help them or stop them from clandestine activity. I knew that my badge was a part of said uniform, got my paycheck every 2 weeks & free coffee at the 7/11. The futher along I remained in this capacity, I learned that it was NOT...how will you help me BUT rather how may I help you today?
That is a great attitude and I wish they all had that same outlook . I know they put up with alot of characters out there . But they need to let the rest of the Law abiding people know they are here for them by being friendly and accessible. I had a policeman in my lodge ask me why civilians ignore them and eye them suspicously and I told him bluntly , most of the police have never given us a reason to be friendly when we see you .
I have my own horror story.... Guys, I totally agree with you. I got no love for Police at all. I mean i got my own story... I wasn't always a good citizen, up until few years ago I've been doing a lot of stupid crap. I've got arrested with weed in the car when me and my friend were going home after a club. It wasn't my weed, but i did smoke some of it earlier with my friends. (Just to be clear i don't do drugs no more in any shape or form, i barely even drink. So i hope you guys don't judge me too harshly. I'm sure some of you done stupid stuff when you were younger.) But funny part about me being arrested with my friends that time, is that such "theoretical"(according to cops) stuff as "our rights" weren't even in their minds when whole thing went down. They didn't even read us Miranda when they were slapping cuffs on us. We were only kids who got treated in a way that you see in movies usually. Any mention by me about our rights when they were tearing down my friends car earned me: "Shut the f**k up before you get slapped on the face, who the f**k asked you anything?!" (Very professional on cop's part) Before cops can rip your car and things apart, there has to be some kind of "probable cause" for that. Wes, am i right? If you were a cop you probably know the specifics. They pulled us over 'cause they didn't like how we looked. Though rest of us were kinda drunk, our designated driver was 100% sober, there was no broken tail lights, nor any problems with documents or registration. No traffic rules were broken, nor anything of such. Basically no reason to get on our case what-so-ever. Anyway, my wallet was in my bag, and young detective who was searching it stole $1200 from my wallet, which i only found out the next morning when i was getting my things back and signing my money out. When we got pulled over i had $1500 minus gas money which i spent to fill up my friend's car for him to drive us all to our homes. Conversation in the morning when i was getting my stuff back: -"$238.55?! Where is the rest of my money?!" -"Is that your signature next to $238.55? Take it and get out." -"I was half-asleep yesterday, i don't know what the hell you made me sign!" -"I told you, take your sh*t, and get out unless you want us to take you to County Jail. You deaf!?" I had no choice i didn't want to go to jail, so i just picked up my stuff and left. But i know for 100% that ******* detective who was first in my bag went into my wallet and took all the hundreds which were there. I couldn't pay my rent that month, i couldn't give money to my mother, i couldn't get my girlfriend a birthday present i promised to get her, i couldn't lend money to my brother for something he really needed. WORST PART: Nobody of above mentioned people believed me: "You drank all your money away, don't LIE! Police officer would never do such despicable thing as stealing your money!" When my lawyer read me the Police Report - FULL LIE! They wrote so much lies in that report to make them look like they prevented most dangerous criminals in the world from executing most terrible terrorist act ever done on American soil. "We saw what in dark looked like a knife of some sort which person in the front seat was waving in 'show off' manner as they were driving while speeding through a quiet area... blah blah blah. Though no weapons were found it was our duty.... blah blah blah... While every single of car's occupants seemed very intoxicated.... blah blah blah... We saw that person in the backseat was using a lighter with extremely large flame which we know from our extensive experience as police officers is used to light glass-like devices from which drug addicts usually smoke crack-cocaine... blah blah blah" Yeah right, person in the front seat was sleeping for last 40 minutes, since we left the club and got woken up by a cop dragging him out of the car. I know that 'cause it was me. And our designated driver needed a gun to his head to make him drive over speed limit, 'cause he always drove like my grandmother and i asked him of course later on and he told me he was barely even at the speed limit. So speeding part was crap. Nobody used any lighters in the car, 'cause he didn't let people smoke cigarettes in his car - period. Basically WHOLE REPORT was a LIE, except for a part that they found small bag of weed. Though my buddy who's weed it was said on the spot: "It's my weed, my friends has nothing to do with it. Let them go." Of course all he got in response is bunch of profanity and "shut the f**k ups". They still arrested all 5 of us and charged every single one. And of course his words about saying its his weed never made to the report either. Our behavior in the report was outrage, that we were violent and cursing... Basically described their own behavior towards us, though we never showed any hostility towards them, we were just scared that they were gonna beat us senseless on the spot if we opened our mouths. That's how come they were going through our things while we were taken pretty far away, that's how come i didn't see him taking my money out of my wallet which was in my bag inside the car. I won't even go explaining in what condition they left my friends car after their "search with probable cause", and i wont say details of how they treated us inside the station. It was like a horror movie. I'll just say i had marks on my throat in the morning from the part when detective grabbed me by the throat and screamed in my face: "Shut the f**k up!". [I REMOVED THE PART ABOUT THEM BEATING A SICK PERSON, IF ANY WAY ONE OF THEM EVER SEE THIS POST BY SOME CRAZY COINCIDENCE, I DON'T WANT THEM TO FIND ME AND BEAT ME FOR THAT OR TAKE ANY OTHER VENGEANCE ON ME] I could go on forever, and i don't want to bore you guys. This was my experience and it was horrible, its kinda hard to explain all this injustice in only few words. I'm not saying that they were wrong for arresting us, weed is illegal substance and when somebody gets caught with it - he should not complain about being arrested. But cops behavior like that should cost them their badges, which will never happen. I doubt that even if one of them would have shot me, it would cost him much more than slap on the wrist and extra paperwork. BUT IS EVERY COP LIKE THIS? NO, i don't think so, only most of them. I guess a decent cop is somewhat of a rarity these days. There are some guys in our lodge which served as Auxiliary Cops for long time and planning to joining the force on full-time basis. They are excellent guys, and I'm more than sure not single one of them would ever do things which were done to us that night. Sorry if i wrote too much.....
I was very close friends with a guy who was a police officer and was shot and killed while on duty. He worked for a small town and was the only officer on duty the night he was called to assist the county sheriffs dept with a guy who was headed to his parents house in that town after just stabbing his ex-girlfriend to death in front of their kids. The guy dropped his kids off at his parents house and the officer was at the end of the driveway waiting for backup (the details here are a little fuzzy for me, I"ve heard conflicting stories) when the guy drove down the driveway, shot and killed him. I know there are some officers that should be ashamed to put on the public servant uniform everyday but there are some that are proud of what they do and what their job should be. Unfortunately, the good guys seem to be outnumbered.
That is true. I have no hate for police officers. I hope it did not come off as I do. I actually donate every year to them. The bad ones make the news though. And sadly, it gives a bad impression. I'm surprised to see some comments being made about the two police officers in Tampa who just lost their lives. They made a stop for a minor traffic violation, the guy had a minor warrant for bad checks and ended up shooting two cops in the head. One cop had a wife who was 9 months pregnant. Rumors are, as I have not been able to confirm this yet, that the wife went into labor as the cop passed away. She lost the baby during her pregnancy. I could not imagine what she is now going through. Makes my problems seem insignificant.
I have nothing against the good ones either . Those who obey the same laws they have sworn to enforce and expect their family members to do the same , who respect the people they are paid to serve , and lead by example . I have nothing but respect for those men and women .
We're currently having a justice scandal in Raleigh, the capital of North Carolina, where a number of serious (ie, death row) cases involved the state crime lab withholding evidence that would help a defendant, and only reporting damning evidence. It also appears the county prosecutor's office knew, and withheld this evidence, even though state law gives them the responsibility to give it to the defense counsel. Not one prosecutor or lab official has been charged, or even had their license threatened. I'm so pi$$ed, I could bit through nails. In the case dismissed this last week, the tech in the field reported that the girl's panties "appeared to have blood stains," but ON THE WITNESS STAND didn't mention repeated tests in the lab showed the stains not to be blood. Threatened with the death penalty, the defendant entered an Alford Plea, never admitting guilt, and served 17 years before being exonerated. This is not what justice is about. S&F
There was an experiment in the 70's where the researchers took a group of college student volunteers, divided them into groups of "prisoners" and "guards". The guards wore uniforms while the prisoners were given typical prison garb. Within a short time, the experiment had to be terminated because the guards had abused the prisoners. Stanford prison experiment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This shows the power of a uniform on any but a person of the highest character. I've seen officers placing the public in danger by driving dangerously through construction areas to protest being replaced with Flagmen rather than being hired for detail work. Police corruption and abuse of their power is rampant. The town I live in is so tired of their antics that any bill that includes more money for the local force will fail in the town elections. One bill had needed increases in the town school budget together with an increase in the police budget. It failed. when they were separated, the schools got the money, the cops didn't. In retribution, the police refused to work during the town fireworks display causing the celebration to be cancelled. The Selectmen called in the State Police the next year and vowed to never let the town police hold the town hostage again. Protect and Serve my a$$.
