The people he is referring to are correctly referred to as being in the grievance industry. It is literally their rice bowl.Originally Posted by AMC
The people he is referring to are correctly referred to as being in the grievance industry. It is literally their rice bowl.
I like this guy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0chi9zD4Zo
Reading the thread, I saw reference to policing procedures in countries like Norway, Denmark, and Iceland. They, like Switzerland and Sweden, have a homogenous population which lacks the racial diversity found in the United States. These counties have not had the level of inequality that has existed here with one dominant group having most of the goodies and minorities having much less. Racial discord has not been a problem that affects police in such nations. Another fact is that these countries have extremely high literacy rates. So being a cop in a country where almost everybody belongs to the same racial group and where educational levels are extremely high is probably easier than being a cop here. Another factor is that these countries have fewer weapons floating around among that great pool of persons who should not own them.
In America the cycle of poverty is driven by teen pregnancy--children having children. I worked in an in-school parenting education program. I worked in a school district where girls start having babies in the 6th grade. Teen pregnancy has become an acceptable part of Black and Mexican-American culture in the inner city. Their preachers, teachers, principals, and civic leaders will not discuss the issue. It's a taboo topic for anybody else to mention because comments are interpreted as criticism. Children born into the bad neighborhoods are trapped here among the addicted, the illiterate, the unemployed, the welfare dependent, the ex-offenders, pimps, whores, and drug dealers. Unfortunately many have become custodial citizens dependent on government subsidy. I seriously doubt that police officers from Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, or Iceland have skills to function in these areas. I'd bet my Governor on that.
Excellent analysis, willie. I have the utmost respect for all things LEO in America. I would never pretend to understand what they must go through, even on a "slow day." It does seem to me that a quantum leap in recruiting, training and leadership could alleviate a great deal of problems, especially in those areas you referred to. Something needs to change to restore the respect element for our most vital professional people who also happen to be the most vulnerable in our society.
Last edited by 11B10; 04-17-2018 at 08:21 AM.
Indeed you are correct. From what I read here, I think that "other" budget priorities, whatever they are, come first. Afterwards, training falls into a state mandated(minimal)category. My opinion is that competent leadership infused with some common sense is a main key to resolving many issues laid at the feet of street cops. As a retired teacher, I can say that I sat through a lot of bullshit training sessions conducted by people who were paid inordinate sums of money and who were flown in from other states at our expense. Many school districts have a lot of money to spend(blow). Police departments probably do not. Wouldn't it be a good idea for neighboring police districts to pool money and bring in first class trainers? But to do this they first must get along with each other. As someone stated in this thread, there is a very large number of police departments in the nation, and each acts independently of the other.
Sometimes I think that much cop stress derives from supervisors. Today there appears to be less street adjusting left up to officer discretion. Had I been a policemen, I would have wanted in some cases to call juvenile offenders' parents instead of locking them up. I would have wanted to give people a break when I could. Probably I would have thrown small weed amounts in the air and let the wind blow it away. I would have written too many warning tickets. Some things I may have ignored. I'm bright enough to realize that I would have been too lenient in many cases. Walking a beat downtown would have been my niche. Are police officers today still allowed to street adjust? Do supervisors hinder more than help? I think that if departments can reach a balance that includes efforts towards public relations and cultural sensitivity, we may see some overall progress. But, if we don't, let's not blame street cops. They are one small cog in the big machine. There are other cogs including easily outraged and obese citizens and their civic leaders. Cultural sensitivity is a two way street. Pointing this out and clarifying the response once got me a big ass chewing, of which I've had many.
While improved leadership and training are absolutely essential right now to improve law enforcement in our country, those things will have absolutely zero effect on the social pathologies that you rightly identify as the root of disfunction in the inner cities. The best mechanic in the world won't help if you insist on driving a '70s Peugot off-road in the Rockies constantly.
Sadly, we are likely to get neither competent leadership nor improved training. All the focus for LE training right now is going towards classes like "Managing Implicit Bias", De-Escalation, Cultural Competency, Creating inclusive Environments......you get the picture. Use of Force is studied in the context of "How not to ever have to do this". That trend is pushed politically from outside of LE, and is embraced by most LE managers.....because they want to keep their job. I do not see anyone in a position of authority anywhere pushing back on this trend.
As for "spirit of the law" enforcement, which you referred to as cutting people a break, yes it still happens. The problem is....it is becoming the dominant paradigm, for everything. Felonies are now being excused, because who the hell wants the hassle and career problems. Easier to just look the other way. I'm not saying this is right, or good, but it is absolutely happening all over the country. What you may think is Law Enforcements role is being redifined into what I like to call "Law Encouragement". And the ones making these decisions not only don't care what cops think, they don't care what you think either.
AMC and a few of the other folks have posted a lot of things worth thinking about. Regarding street level discretion, that’s actually one of the few negative consequences of the proliferation of dash cams and body cameras. With everything being on video now, I feel like I can’t just let little things slide anymore even if it would be in, what I believe, would have been in the best interests of the justice system. I know that a lot of my coworkers feel the same way. Can you crush someone’s weed and let them go with a talking to and some life advice if there will be a permanent record of that action that could one day bite you in the ass?
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My posts only represent my opinion and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or official policies of my employer. Obvious spelling errors are likely the result of an iPhone keyboard.
My posts only represent my personal opinion and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or official policies of any employer, past or present. Obvious spelling errors are likely the result of an iPhone keyboard.
"Unlawful Destruction of Evidence" charges filed by local cop hating DA in 4...3...2...
Because the bad guy is not the 17 year old with the dope, its the obviously "rouge cop who decided to play judge and jury on the side of the road".
Last edited by Gadfly; 04-17-2018 at 03:11 PM.
“A gun is a tool, Marian; no better or no worse than any other tool: an axe, a shovel or anything. A gun is as good or as bad as the man using it. Remember that.” - Shane
I can speak directly to that matter.
In the late 80's, early 90's I took down a narcotics related international money laundering operation in South FL. We probably took them for a bit over a million one night after I followed a couple of the players on my own time on a Friday night.
After I got my partners there to inventory the money and conduct a (consent) search, one of them found a band-aid tin which contained a small quantity of coke. It belonged to a young gal, twenty-ish, who would've faced minimum mandatory time under FL state law, though the feds would probably decline prosecution on the amount.
Since we didn't want to burn our informants I made a decision to flush the coke and one of the agents did so, witnessed by others. In return, the young female agreed to cooperate. (Yeah, right. But since we weren't arresting, to protect the sources, no big deal, right?)
Well, the gal and her family operation absconded and I heard of them intermittently after that for a couple of years and that was that.
Years later, I mean right before I retired...I get a call from a federal prosecutor in NJ who's presenting a large narcotics money laundering case at trial and wants me to come up to testify as an expert witness. He briefs me on the players and said I'd be familiar with some.
Then he tells me that this same gal, now about 15 years later, tells him about the disposed coke as if to work a deal with the prosecutor by handing up a possibly corrupt fed. The prosecutor asks me if this is true and if the story she related to him really happened. Well, yeah, but not the way she told it.
I tell the prosecutor the whole story on the condition that if there is any fallout it is entirely on me and I will not reveal who actually disposed of the coke or who was present other than what generic info is in my reports.
I further explain I'm months out from leaving the job and he now holds my life in his hands but I'll leave it up to him to do as he sees fit.
He called me back a few days later and told me that no further mention of the matter would go forward but I wouldn't testify as an expert on the case. (I didn't want to go to Jersey anyway.)
I breathed a heavy sigh of relief as you can imagine...after having told my old partner about what had come up but assuring that his or her name would stay out of it...plus telling my wife that my career was hanging in the balance. Those were some long days.
Moral of the story? No good deed goes unpunished. Watch your asses out there. The person you save today may come back and screw you tomorrow.
Last edited by blues; 04-17-2018 at 03:30 PM.
There's nothing civil about this war.
blues...there you go again. Using common sense and logic. Then, to make it even worse, you blatantly display your humanity. Will you never learn?
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