"Either you buy these, or I take your car"

[voodoo_man]

http://6abc.com/news/philly-cop-to-d...ur-car/951155/

Video of incident in link as well as description.

Seriously dude? You have one job, one job.

Will he be fired? Probably not.

He'll probably get a 5 or 10 day suspension and then transferred to the worst hell-hole the PD has to offer, while assigned to steady midnights and all possible transfers will be denied.

Before people wonder, "why is he trying so hard to sell these tickets?"

The tickets are for the "hero thrill show" - http://www.herothrillshow.org/ - Every officer in the department is given tickets to sell...make your own conclusions about that.

[Dr. No]

Why is it that all these videos start the instant the cop is saying questionable things?

What happened before that?

Context is everything .... and something that may look really REALLY bad might not be what you think it is.

If it is true and he's extorting the driver, he will get his ass handed to him. I would think a thorough investigation would be warranted.

[BehindBlueI's]

Selling things on duty to the public should be against policy, period. I say to the public because if you want to sell to your fellow cops at roll call or run a snack fund in the detective's office, that's fine.

You want to hock tickets, do it on your own time. There's simply too much potential for both corruption and the appearance of corruption. Even if he didn't extort them, a traffic stop is not the place to be shilling a product, and having someone detained longer than legally required so you can do your sales pitch is problematic as well.

[JackRock]

Why is it that all these videos start the instant the cop is saying questionable things?

What happened before that?

Context is everything .... and something that may look really REALLY bad might not be what you think it is.

If it is true and he's extorting the driver, he will get his ass handed to him. I would think a thorough investigation would be warranted.

I gotta agree that that severe context is missing. However, notice that the camera is already placed and generally stationary. I'm guessing it was a phone camera (vertical video), so it was probably running before the clip that we see. That being the case, it was either edited for brevity/relevance (only including the part relevant to the story), or it was as bad as the claims say.

I did some digging, since the news story said it went viral on Facebook. I found a copy on the profile of James Coleman (I doubt that James is the original driver in the video - he just uploaded the most commonly forwarded copy that I see), which shows it from a point when the officer's walking up - and it seems that only a couple of seconds were removed for the news story.
Here's a direct link to the video in question on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kraze1134so...4876599740137/

[GardoneVT]

Selling things on duty to the public should be against policy, period. I say to the public because if you want to sell to your fellow cops at roll call or run a snack fund in the detective's office, that's fine.

You want to hock tickets, do it on your own time. There's simply too much potential for both corruption and the appearance of corruption. Even if he didn't extort them, a traffic stop is not the place to be shilling a product, and having someone detained longer than legally required so you can do your sales pitch is problematic as well.

Agreed.

That being said, this event recalls to mind the "voluntold" nonsense I encountered in the AF. The higher ups would make the rounds at the squadron office with an offer us worker bees couldn't refuse.

Sure, you didn't HAVE to visit the Annual Air Force Spouses' Interior Decorating and Dependapottamous Social planned by the base commander's better half. Go ahead, play Call o' Duty at home.

But then again, THEY don't have to give you a 5 on your Enlisted Performance Review either...or approve your leave on Date X....or sign off your AF1314, Firearms Ownership Permission Slip.....

[Paul]

In the video, Zagursky is heard to say, "You and your friend got any money to buy these thrill show tickets? Support your police department. Ten bucks each, man."

The incident was part of what police call a "live stop," part of crackdown on unregistered and uninsured vehicles.

Zagursky continues, "Either you buy these, or I take your car because it's unregistered. Ten bucks each man."

The driver then hands Zagursky money and takes the tickets.

Clearly out of control police corruption, lets be outraged. Buy a couple tickets and get out of several hundred dollars in fines, impound and administrative fees for operating an unregistered vehicle. That's my definition of a raw deal.

The officer shouldn't have done it, it's more of a misguided attempt to cut someone a break than a shake down. It's unprofessional and unethical and it doesn't matter if there's a camera there or not. He'll probably get in in more trouble for dereliction of duty for not citing the driver and towing the car, than he will for conducting personal business on duty.

[Hambo]

Every officer in the department is given tickets to sell...make your own conclusions about that.

I thought this stuff went out of style a long time ago. We never sold anything on duty, but when I was a rookie we sold fundraiser tickets off duty, in uniform. Even after it was discontinued we would walk into businesses and they would ask, "Oh, time to buy tickets?"

With that in mind I see two problems. First is the corporate problem that every officer gets tickets they have to sell. I don't know what PPD's policy is on selling them, but I'd bet they look the other way if you can off them while working. Second is the individual officer's stupidity. I don't know if he was giving them a break while doing himself a favor, but the whole play was stupid. Tow the car or give them a straight up break.

[LittleLebowski]

Clearly out of control police corruption, lets be outraged. Buy a couple tickets and get out of several hundred dollars in fines, impound and administrative fees for operating an unregistered vehicle. That's my definition of a raw deal.

The officer shouldn't have done it, it's more of a misguided attempt to cut someone a break than a shake down. It's unprofessional and unethical and it doesn't matter if there's a camera there or not. He'll probably get in in more trouble for dereliction of duty for not citing the driver and towing the car, than he will for conducting personal business on duty.

That is my impression as well. Personally, were I the motorist, I would prefer what the officer did.

Oh well, looks like the people have spoken.

[BehindBlueI's]

Clearly out of control police corruption, lets be outraged. Buy a couple tickets and get out of several hundred dollars in fines, impound and administrative fees for operating an unregistered vehicle. That's my definition of a raw deal.

The officer shouldn't have done it, it's more of a misguided attempt to cut someone a break than a shake down. It's unprofessional and unethical and it doesn't matter if there's a camera there or not. He'll probably get in in more trouble for dereliction of duty for not citing the driver and towing the car, than he will for conducting personal business on duty.

What's the difference between cutting a break in exchange for $20 to charity and $20 in your pocket? Cutting them a break in exchange for $20 either way.

[Dagga Boy]

Accountability starts at the top. Who decided it was a good idea to have officers selling these things and how much pressure was there? This kind of BS is usually brass driven. Funny how nobody gives a crap when how many tickets you write becomes a major part of your evaluation. Same with the Garner thing in NY....who actually made selling single cigarettes a priority, because I guarantee it wasn't any of the patrol officers there. Many officers simply "play the game" and keep the bosses happy with whatever b.s is a priority. Same year I was turned down for a Medal of Valor because "we don't give awards for shooting people", one of our detectives who was worthless (she was promoted to get her off the street to keep her from getting killed) got a big award for organizing red ribbon week, which she made a full time job rather than actual cop stuff. Same thing when we were supposed to give "POG's" to kids to make ghetto kids like the police......little urchins would run up to felony car stops hanging off you for the stupid things (I was proud of my record of not handing out a single one). To go along with this...we had a guy have his career saved after a DUI arrest and collision while coming from a Captains charity wine tasting.....an event most serious street cops missed, unless you were sucking up for promotion.

Cop in the video was likely trying to kill two birds with one stone. Cut the guys a break, and keep the boss in charge of ticket sales happy. He will pay the price for this. It is why "not giving a shit" about this stuff was part of my career survival mechanism. Was not part of the promotability program, but unlike many, I didn't care.

You care about widows and orphans, raise money elsewhere. I am sure there is some rich folks who need a tax wrote off and some influence.