I agree; it doesn't make sense. If this were to have happened in our community I would write a well thought out letter to the editor of the newspaper.

The situation you cite isn't about a cop. It's our judicial system. We punish people (including police) after they have been found guilty in a court of law. Right now, this cop is 'the accused', not 'the convicted'.

Maddening!

jasdip is Canadian chisue, so it's her judicial system this time, but I agree, changes need to be made to how police are, well, policed.

We have 17 police officers in our little community on "paid administrative leave" (out of 76 officers) since before summer started "pending the outcome of the investigation(s)" into different "officer involved" shootings.

Link below is to the latest one, and has the public to most outraged. It happened at the coffee shop across the street from my office. The officer originally reported that a "vicious pit bull lunged through the open window at my face".
It was a 2 year old lab and the window was 3/4 of the way up. He shot him right through the window.

Here is a link that might be useful: Justice for Arfee

I think cops are power mad. I think they they love to kick ass. To protect and serve-yeah, right. My father was a Border Patrol agent and later a US Customs officer. Believe me, I have no reason to trust police. I know what a mean SOB he really was. His friends were cops. One of them tried to molest me when I was 10. Yet he talked about about the sex offenders on file at headquarters. True story.

I agree with Chisue that it is not appropriate to punish an accused, that we should punish the convicted. It may be some day, that someone might accuse us of something, and we would then be glad we stood firm on waiting until a finding of guilt was made.
I also agree that some cops make bad and unacceptable choices, but they are the ones that you hear about.
There are many who quietly go through their career helping and protecting us, who do not get into trouble or overstep their authority.
I'm not willing to tar all cops with the same brush because I don't think they are all the same.

A couple of years ago, not to far from me, a police officer confronted a women in her car in the parking lot of a church, claimed that she rolled up the window trapping his arm and starting to drive off which could have resulted in him being dragged, so he claimed he was completely justified in shooting her a half dozen times.

Both witness and the evidence of the case clearly indicated his claims were untrue -- for instance the bullets went through the back of the car and the back of the car seat, which is really hard to do with an arm "trapped" in the driver side window. However despite this the local investigators and the state police were seemingly going to accept that as the official version of events and close the issue without any repercussions for the officer.

It took a petition, and news coverage and pressure from the sheriff in our county to ensure it wasn't just swept under the rug. They did eventually charge the officer with murder, and bring the case to trial, where he was found guilty, but even with that he was given a paltry 3 year sentence rather than the 25 years the prosecutor asked for.

I don't like most police, especially the younger ones. They are rude, arrogant, and power hungry. I would not want to be a black man in this country.

Our PD invites the public to ride along with an officer for a shift. You might try it.

The new cameras that clip on to the front of an officer's shirt or onto his eyeglass frame have been getting some really excellent results.

can't remember the exact figures, but it seems like complaints against officers decreased by over 80% in cities where every move a police officer made was on film.

I never quite understood the suspended with pay thing either, but I can tell you, there are plenty of cops that are on the up and up.

Yes, I was married to a cop.

Yes, I did divorce him, but that had nothing to do with his behavior at work.

I do know, how often he was in danger, when he had to go to a domestic dispute, to a home or business where the burglar alarm went off...

Moni

I agree with Lucille. There are a lot of good cops that do their job well every day. I think to lump them all together is a really bad thing. I would hate to be a cop today with all the craziness in this world. I often wonder how much PTSD the cops have today. I also wonder if we are doing enough to treat them if they get PTSD or some other mental illness because of their job.

It seems like people today want to blame the cops for all that is wrong. Let me tell you that sometimes both the defendants lie and the witnesses lie. You can't believe all that you hear from the media. They are trying to up their ratings and they will tell half truths from time to time.

To lump all cops into one category is wrong.

I don't think anyone's blaming every cop for the brutal ones, but I do think that 'cop culture', the legal system, & maybe our own assumptions protect the bad ones.

I once talked to a young woman whose cop boyfriend had beaten her 6-year-old son to death.

The judge gave him a token prison sentence & ruled that he could never again in his life be in law enforcement...
& then he 'comforted' the young mother by telling her that taking away this murderer's right to wear a badge was the worst punishment in the world.

After an incident that happened when I was married to my first husband, in which I stabbed him in his butt while I was wrestling a losing battle with him on the floor, The cops demanded me to get off the GD floor and quit faking my injuries. The cops gathered around my husband and told him I was a dangerous woman and for him to go to the hospital and get a stitch or two in the cut I had made. In the ER the DR. Sent him home with a bandaide for his flesh wound. The cops were going to haul me off to jail, but I was screaming every time they tried to lift me off the floor. They told me I was faking it and left me there. My husband left me that way but was "nice enough" to call my parents. They came over, took me to the hospital, where I had 4 broken ribs, two black eyes, and a skull fracture. I do not trust cops. They all leave a bad taste in my mouth!

(((thistledew)))

My sister was pulled over for a traffic violation, in CA. The cop spent an hour with her discussing if they should go on a date when NO other compensation was offered he gave her a ticket. :0)

Our system is corrupt....and the people who enforce it...

I'll always remember the cop who seemed to think I was his therapist. He pulled me over one morning as my plates were missing the current year registration stickers. For some reason, he had me sit in the front seat of his patrol car while he called in my license info and wrote up the warning.

In the process he started talking about his pending divorce. He kept going for a good 45 minutes about how his wife had cheated on him and now was screwing him over on disposition of their marital assets. He went on and on and on. All the while, I was getting later and later to work (this was pre-cell phone days, so I couldn't even call my boss to let him know what was going on).

I was so young that I had no idea what to do. I knew he was abusing his authority by holding me there, but thought that if I tried to leave while he was raging about his soon-to-be-ex wife, he'd haul me to jail or something.

Finally, he exhausted himself and wrapped it up. Then, when he handed me the ticket, he had the temerity to sternly tell me, "If you don't call me within 24 hours to report that you now have your registration stickers, I will come to your work and arrest you in front of everyone there." ARREST ME OVER REGISTRATION STICKERS.

Yeah. Not impressed. I hope the Des Moines, Iowa police department have since weeded that whack-a-doodle out of the force.

Y'all have my hair standing on end!

I once had a tire blow out on the freeway, lost control, & the car turned over on its side & slid into the ditch.

I was dazed & confused, so passersby called the police & the EMTs.

When the policeman got there, he ordered XYZ Wrecker to pick up the car.

I said, "no no, I've had trouble with the owner of XYZ Wrecker; please call ABC."

The very young policeman stuck his face right up into my face & demanded, "Do you want to go to JAIL?"

Still confused, not knowing what I'd said that set him off, I said, 'no...'

EMTs said they could take me to the hospital but that my vitals were good, & I could go home.

Next day, I called the chief of police, who sounded very solicitous & asked if I'd put everything in a letter, & he'd come by the office personally & get it.

dumb me, I did.

I waited all day & finally went to lunch around 3 PM.

& when I got back, the secretary said he had come by & she had given him the letter.

& that was the last I heard from him!

found out later that the owner of XYZ paid the cops for every tow they called in for him.

Those are some pretty scary stories but I have to say I'd be a nervous wreck all the time if a family member were a police officer. With the proliferation of guns in this country, you never know what might be coming at you, if you are a cop. That rear-view vision is so nice and clear.... That said, I find it shameful and frightening that so many bad cops are protected.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Sadly there are many decent police officers who have to live and work near the many many immature men who become officers so they can feel powerful. Yes they are in danger, often, but that is no excuse for the stories here and the thousands like it or worse that are out there.

Sylvia -- There's something wonky like that going on in my state, too! When our van broke down on the interstate a couple years ago, I called the Roadside Assistance number printed on my auto insurance policy card to arrange a tow.

When a passing cop showed up, I let him know we wouldn't be there long as a tow truck was coming. He got a funny look on his face and said we were supposed to call "ABC Tow" (or whatever it was). I asked why and he said, "We have an arrangement with them for all break-downs on this stretch of interstate. Motorists are required to call them."

Being older and more confident than I was in the incident I posted above, I replied, "Well, I have an arrangement with my insurer and, since tows are covered in my policy premiums, that's who I'm using."

He got a sour look, stomped back to his patrol car, and left.

Tow companies that kick back to the police to the extent that cops aggressively push their services as "required" (or "illegal" if you don't) gives the term "Highway Robbery" and new meaning, doesn't it?

Years ago my sister-in-law was driving home from the shopping mall two days before Christmas. A local cop pulled her over because the sticker on her license plate had expired. She apologized and said she'd get the new sticker as soon as the DMV opened after the holidays. The cop said "no you don't understand, its illegal for you to drive the vehicle with an out-of-date sticker, so I'm calling a tow truck to impound your vehicle."

Since she wouldn't be allowed to retrieve the car from the impound lot until after Christmas, she was allowed to get the presents from her car before the tow truck arrived. She was then issued a citation and left standing by the side of the road, in a snowbank, holding two large bags of Christmas presents, when she was eight-and-a-half months pregnant.

After four attempts at calling friends or family for help, she finally reached someone who came as quickly as possible -- which took about 45 minutes, by which time the sun had set and it had started snowing and since she only had a light coat she was chilled to the bone.

Her friend dropped her off at home and offered to stay until my brother got home from work, which was a good thing since the stress of the experience caused her to go into labor that evening, two weeks early. My niece was born the next day on Christmas eve.

If she had spent the last of her change before reaching someone on the phone, she could have frozen. Or she could have been hit by as car on the dark and snowy road. She easily could have gone into labor there and perhaps lost the child or even died.

But the police chief of that small jurisdiction supported his officer saying he had done everything by the book and wouldn't even apologize. I never thought about it but I'll bet any amount of money that that police department had a similar shady kickback deal with the towing company.

Heck, yeah, they did.

& they were victimizing the very people they were supposed to 'serve & protect'.

I think most police officers are good, but the ones who are bad are REALLY bad. Over the years, I've called a staff sergeant twice over concerns (not as serious as outlined in this thread, however), and both times I was satisfied with the outcome.

And who is it you call when you have eggs thrown at your house? When you've locked yourself out of your car? When your house has been broken into? When you have a domestic abuse situation? When you can't be burdened with asking your neighbor to turn their music down? When you see a suspicious vehicle in your neighborhood? When your loved one hasn't been heard from? When your child is missing? The police.
And oh, yes, we are compensated so well! How much do you think one should be paid for cutting down a person that hanged themselves? How much for having to witness a person blow their head off and having to gingerly step through the brain matter on the crime scene? How much to tend to the baby that was dropped into scalding water by its mother so that it's skin literally is falling off? How much for having to go to a home and inform parents that their 19 year old daughter will never be coming home again due to a car accident? How much to place our lives in danger each and everyday so that your family is safe?
Have you ever thought about how much we miss? Our children's school events, holidays,birthdays,weddings because we work 24/7?
Have you ever thought about what happens to a person from seeing others pain,grief and crime every single day you work?
Do you know how it feels when a citizen calls to complain that they see you in your car " just sitting there drinking coffee" when you are just trying to clear your head from the murder scene you just cleared? Yes, we get coffee breaks too.
Do you know how it feels to see children abused and hungry on a daily basis?
Not all cops are bad. We feel. He hurt right along with you. We also share joys with you but those moments are few and far between.
We take this job home with us at night. We have nightmares. Our marriages fall apart due to the stress of the job.
It's not fun to read posts like this that bash us. It's also embarrassing as hell when a fellow officer makes us all look bad. But please don't group us all as one.
We hear things like this all the time but rarely are we ever thanked. And we are the ones that keep you safe.

Summershine

Thank you for all that you do.

For the long hours, the difficult situations, the danger, and often the low pay and lack of respect.
The vast majority of my personal interactions with police have been positive, they have helped me, my kids, through some difficult times.

You are appreciated.

Thanks Summershine. I was wondering when someone would chime in and speak the truth. It's a thankless job you do. But I thank you for all you do.

"the truth"?

That's what we all have been posting.

This thread isn't about the police officers who do their jobs conscientiously;
it's about the ones who abuse their power.

Anyone in law enforcement *knows* that there are cops who make a lot of money by taking bribes & kick-backs, cops who bully, threaten, & abuse vulnerable members of the public, cops who get their cop friends to harass any woman who has dared to try to get away from them or any city council member who dares to question such things as ethics or budget or how many patrol cars the department cowboys have wrecked lately.

I knew a cop (cop #1) who got his friends to arrest a guy because an arrest meant that the guy would lose his security clearance, & cop #1 wanted the guy's job!

Anyone in law enforcement knows that the system protects abusers & cheats.

Anyone in law enforcement knows that the "truth" has at least two sides, & that neither side negates the other.

edited to answer summershine's question:

When I need the kind of help for which society gives law enforcement the power to provide, I'm going to call 911 & hope for the best.

If summershine worked in my city, I'd ask for summershine.

This post was edited by sylviatexas on Fri, Aug 29, 14 at 20:59

Sylvia hit the nail on the head, once again. We expect to be taken care of in a respectful manner when we need the police services, but is not always the case. The good cops outnumber the bad cops, but insults, beatings, kick-backs, stealing drugs and using or selling it are all commonplace and everyone knows it.

Here's a recent story, just yesterday, incidentally, of a California cop who killed a pedestrian while texting. But because he was texting work-related information, he wasn't charged. What???

Edited to respond to Jim......Hey Jim, I write letters to the editor fairly frequently. I've already written a letter in the past month, so I have to wait before submitting another one! ;-)

Here is a link that might be useful: Texting and Driving is okay.......if you're a cop

This post was edited by jasdip on Sat, Aug 30, 14 at 13:56

THE TRUTH???? Are you kidding me? Do you think all the posters have been lying? I have a story that I don't want to share, but since this "incident" happened to me, I see the world in a different way. And I am a 55 year old white woman, well-to-do respected member of my community. I shudder to think what would happen to people who have less resources than I do.

My father, husband, sister and nephew were all police officers until they retired or passed away. I therefore have a greater level of awareness about everything their job encompasses, than perhaps many other people. I understand and empathize with everything summershine wrote, and also understand and empathize with all those who posted about unfortunate experiences they personally had or knew someone who had, with a police officer.

Having heard so much intimate information by my personal relationships with police officers, I know the bad apples absolutely exist and are a horrible reflection on the honour and integrity of the rest of the police officers. It is indeed unfortunate that some jobs are controlled by such powerful associations or unions (such as police, teachers and doctors) that it is almost impossible to fire those guilty of abuse, incompetence or negligence. It is also unfortunate that many honourable and dedicated people in these careers get the backlash of stereotyping, because of the damage caused by the bad apples among them.