Noted by Billy Beck:I'll be convinced that this country believes in freedom when it brings the army home and turns them loose on the police departments.
Read Balko's coverage, both today and ongoing, of the police militarization phenomenon to understand why.
My question: where are the good cops, both during such incidents and afterwards?
And what rational basis is there to believe that those same good cops won't be equally impotent in the face of future aggressions?
Tempus fugit.
UPDATED 1430 EDST 4 SEPT 09: Billy posts yet another incident, this one with the hed "Fire chief shot by cop in Ark. court over tickets", and offers this commentary:
***
...Does everyone understand? These are highway robbers in traditions brought all the way down from medieval serfdoms, melded with twenty-first century anti-thought, rationalizations and bullshit, and you are only ever about one step away from the same drill.
What will happen when the people that they pick on starting coming on in their weight-class?
***
My answer?
A hard rain's a-gonna fall.
"My question: where are the good cops, both during such incidents and afterwards?
ReplyDeleteAnd what rational basis is there to believe that those same good cops won't be equally impotent in the face of future aggressions?"
There are over 600,000 police officers in this country. If the vast majority of them were involved in illegality, this country would have rightfully erupted into civil war decades ago.
The egregious examples that you consistently post as further evidence to the validity of your viewpoint are not anywhere near the norm for American police. While it does not make the incidents you cite any less egregious or tragic, you are not presenting a fair account of the careful and faithful service to their oath that the vast majority of officers perform daily.
As a regular reader of this blog and a police officer. I expect the vast majority of officers in this country to honor their oath to The Constitution. You might meet some of the good officers in D.C with the Oath Keepers contingent.
Tempus fugit.
Officer Anon:
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your point of view. And just so you know, two of my closest friends in the world are former LEOs (really).
As to my "consistently post[ing]" of various "bad cop" stories, I say again -- where are the good cops that would create a police culture in which such behavior as is consistently documented by Balko and Codrea is unacceptable?
Going one step further, how can there be any LEOs who are in fact true to their oaths to protect and defend the Constitution in such anti-gun hellholes as New York City and Massachusetts? Doesn't the 2A's "shall not be infringed" language apply in those jurisdictions?
And if it does, what are the obligations of a LEO in those jurisdictions who is truly faithful to his oath?
I look forward to discussing these important issues further with you in Washington, and I am confident that we will both discover that neither of us is wearing horns or a spiked tail.
:-)
I also plan to use your fair comment as the basis for a further discussion of these issues later in the weekend.
Thanks for your comment and your readership.
I am over 65 yrs old and have seen a progression of "militarism" in the police forces of our towns and citys. To be on the SWAT team is considered to be "one of the elite"
ReplyDeleteI gave read many articles of the abuse of the SWAT teams from the use of these teams to initiate contact with suspects rather than allowing the regular police to effect the arrest and SWAT to respond if needed as backup.
A mayor in MD whose house was raided and whose dogs were killed
(Labrador retreivers shot in the back while running away) The BATFE raid on Waco, and on and on.
Did you know the U. S. Dept. of agriculture has SWAT teams? Why?
The need for SWAT teams is obvious, however the present day overuse of these teams is getting oppresive.
I would say that my experiences over the years with the police has been positive in the extreme, with only one exception 3 years ago, with a young man whose mother neglected to teach him manners. I am sure with time he will grow up.
I do agree with anonymous that the vast majority of police are good decent family men and women, however all public servants are subject to public scrutiny and abuse must be exposed every time it occurs.
This is why the Ubited States has a respected police force in its towns and citys. When there is no longer public scrutiny we will degenerate into a Mexican type of police departments where graft and injustice are the norm. It is incumbent on the citizens and police to see to it this never happens. nuff said.
PAK
Codrea has been posting one report a day of assault or theft or worse by police officers. Because of that, we can now all speak the audience-response line 'the officer acted according to department policy, and was cleared of wrongdoing' in synchrony.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe Codrea is selectively discarding the news reports that end with "...and the officer went to prison for 15 years for rape". But if you believe his coverage is unbalanced, perhaps you could start a blog listing the hundred cases a day where police go to jail for substantial stretches after serious crimes. And you could praise the honest officers who turned them in. You need to find a hundred cases a day because then one case a day of non-prosecution would not be the norm.
"There are over 600,000 police officers in this country. If the vast majority of them were involved in illegality, this country would have rightfully erupted into civil war decades ago."
Nah. Even when police were beating and lynching blacks during the civil rights era, there wasn't a threat of civil war. And where is the constitutional amendment that allows there to be laws to prohibit some drugs? About 1 in 50 Americans is in prison because of the illegal drug war, yet there has been no threat of civil war because of it. Your argument doesn't hold water.
Fun quote from Mad Mike z Williamson:
ReplyDeleteIf I Were A Somali Pirate
These idiots quite literally break down into crew (Fishermen), muscle (thugs who know which way to point an RPG, most of the time), and "technical specialists" (someone who can actually operate a GPS).
Literally.
What they need is a LAWYER.
If I were a pirate, I'd simply voice support for the others, and wait until they had 2-3 ships seized.
I'd then infiltrate my Loyal Henchmen with orders but little background, to show up, be enthusiastic, offer beer, then shoot every single one of the other pirates.
I'd then call the nearest legitimate navy, announce the recovery of the hijacked ships and crews, and request their assistance in repatriating them.
Then demand an Admiralty court assess the recovery operation and award me salvage rights, which is traditionally 25% of value of ship and contents.
I'd also legally gain all the pirate vessels in question.
This amounts to enough tens of millions of real money to be able to buy a respectable frigate and a couple of patrol boats, bigger mansions and more women and khat and food than all the pirates combined, thus making me the biggest man in country, and a strong contender for Dictator Friendly To The US.
This is why third world savages will continue to be third world savages. They simply don't think big enough.
http://mzmadmike.livejournal.com/
There's no such thing as a good cop. If he was "good" he wouldnt go to work violating the constitution every morning. What there is however is shriveldick nancies who enjoy the power they can assert over their piers. One day that'll change... and I look forward to the beat downs these hypocrites are gonna get.
ReplyDelete