Al Patterson
Ferroequinologist
We need to hire police who are not idiots. Have these idiots even READ the constitution?
Probably not, they may be unable to read without moving their lips.
Idiots... I hope they win millions...
Detroit Newspaper Photographer Arrested While Covering Police Action
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We need to hire police who are not idiots. Have these idiots even READ the constitution?
Probably not, they may be unable to read without moving their lips.
Idiots... I hope they win millions...
Ranchu
Veteran
I don't call anyone. Pointless after the fact. How about you?
Al Patterson
Ferroequinologist
Most likely the ACLU...
Al Patterson
Ferroequinologist
Yeah, I would have vote for that.
Ranchu
Veteran
Al Patterson
Ferroequinologist
Well, for you or I obviously. For the police? Not so much...
lukitas
second hand noob
For my job on the railroad, I had to take the oath, and as such I am an 'officer of justice'.
If you want to play the white knight on a white stallion, you need to wash whiter than Dash. An officer of the law cannot allow himself to break the law, and should be punished more severely than a civilian when he does so. There are no excuses.
What I see does not quite fit that picture. I see daily (small) infringements of the law by policemen, and by other colleagues under the oath.
On the trains, off-duty policemen take free rides in first class every day, whereas they can only ride free in second class, if they are in uniform. (This is winked at, probably in the hope of a free ride the next time we get a speeding ticket.)
Admittedly, not very much of a crime. But if it is so easy to let one's personal comfort weigh heavier than the law, what can be expected of the way they enforce the law?
I know very well most policemen are good people, I know quite a few of them personally. But being an officer of the law doesn't put you above the law, whereas most policemen do act as if they were above the law, even though they wont admit it, sometimes even to themselves.
As for the OP, I miss the option : 'I make it my job to record all police activity I can get close to'.
If you want to play the white knight on a white stallion, you need to wash whiter than Dash. An officer of the law cannot allow himself to break the law, and should be punished more severely than a civilian when he does so. There are no excuses.
What I see does not quite fit that picture. I see daily (small) infringements of the law by policemen, and by other colleagues under the oath.
On the trains, off-duty policemen take free rides in first class every day, whereas they can only ride free in second class, if they are in uniform. (This is winked at, probably in the hope of a free ride the next time we get a speeding ticket.)
Admittedly, not very much of a crime. But if it is so easy to let one's personal comfort weigh heavier than the law, what can be expected of the way they enforce the law?
I know very well most policemen are good people, I know quite a few of them personally. But being an officer of the law doesn't put you above the law, whereas most policemen do act as if they were above the law, even though they wont admit it, sometimes even to themselves.
As for the OP, I miss the option : 'I make it my job to record all police activity I can get close to'.
EdwardKaraa
Well-known
You sound like someone from a poor neighborhood, or someone who has had problems with the law in the past.
Frontman
Well-known
Good help is hard to find, so you often have to make-do with what you can get. And even those who start with good intentions can become stained after working in the sewers of humanity.
I was a police officer, and I have read the Constitution. My grandfather was a career soldier, a friend of General MacArthur and an acquaintance of Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy. I lived near your town during the years I spent in the Army, before going to university, from which I graduated with honors. About 1/3 the officers in my department were military veterans, and about half had university degrees. I know the Constitution quite well, not only can I read it without moving my lips, I was made to memorize it at a young age. Were you?
The Constitution is not great for what it allows, but for what it doesn't disallow. The Constitution grants these great rights assuming that citizens will exercise great responsibility and self control. The right to own and carry guns is a great example of these assumptions.
But, great as the Constitution is, it, like the other laws of the land, is not strictly obeyed or followed. Have you ever driven over the speed limit? Run a red light? Fudged on your tax returns? Then you are no position to judge the actions of others. Fundamentally, right and wrong are black and white, not gray.
The jails are full of "educated" people who can read without moving their lips. Doctors, lawyers, teachers (and more than a few professors) have committed crimes (some horrendous) which have landed them behind bars. I have arrested my share. Common sense is not commensurate with one's level of education.
Common sense dictates that we not get into altercations or confrontations when there is risk of our being hurt, arrested, or worse. People with common sense must always assume that the other party may not be sensible. Common sense will protect you more than laws or constitutions if you practice it. Unfortunately, common sense is a very rare commodity, and because it is so lacking, we require the various laws and their threats of punishment to maintain order. An unfortunate situation.
noisycheese
Normal(ish) Human
@Edward,
I see from the information listed under your screen name that you are currently located in Bangkok. This makes me wonder if you have always lived there, and if you have ever lived in the U.S. If you have never lived in the U.S. and are not a U.S. citizen, it is understandable that your knowledge of the U.S. Bill of Rights is naturally limited. As a U.S. citizen, I am decidedly not up to speed on the rights of Thai citizens.
Here in the U.S., citizens have the right to photograph others in the public domain without restriction or interference, police officers included. This is not a new development - it has been that way since December, 1791 when the Bill of Rights was ratified. Court rulings have affirmed this in recent years. The right to photograph private citizens and public officials - including law enforcement people - is a right that is guaranteed under the Fist Amendment (freedom of the press and freedom of expression).
The Fourth Amendment guarantees the U.S. citizen freedom from unreasonable search and seizure of their property. The Fifth Amendment guarantees that the citizen will not be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.
Regarding the situation that took place in Detroit - based on the information we know at present - the police officers in question flagrantly violated at minimum Articles One, Four and Five of the U.S. Bill of Rights - and also possibly other provisions of the Bill of Rights. These are unlawful acts committed by the police - who have sworn an oath to support, protect and defend the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the laws they themselves violated in their laying siege to and unlawfully arresting this reporter.
When the police break the law, their violations of the law cannot and must not go unchallenged by the victim of their unlawful acts.
One thing that recent history has taught us here in the U.S. is that at best, we must always view the activities of politicians and the police with wary skepticism. The phrase "Trust but verify" comes to mind. At worst, we cannot turn our backs on politicians or the police; trusting either group has proven to be a fool's errand.
Politicians and police, left to their own devices, will resort to, shall we say, "unwholesome, egocentric, unjust, exasperating and potentially dangerous" behavior in much the same way that a group of unsupervised preschoolers will. Like preschoolers, they require vigilant monitoring, structured boundaries, consistent restraint and a firm hand. The duty of the citizenry is to provide those things, and to apply appropriate discipline via the legal process when police officers act in an inappropriate and unlawful manner.
For the citizens to do any less is to invite extremely troubling results.
-doomed-
film is exciting
I have respect for the police, I deal with them frequently in a friendly capacity. I've been yelled at by State Police, local cops a few feds and so on.
I know what they go through and a good number of them know me by now. Most usually let me go about my business and do my job while they do theirs.
The state police have taken my ID and given me hell a couple times, though in one of those cases I did push my luck a bit farther than I should have.
What happened in this case seems to be a bit of an overreaction by the police on Wright and her filming of them arresting a suspect.
Al Patterson
Ferroequinologist
Oh, just so the law enforcement RFF folks get me wrong, the majority of LEO are smart professionals. They need to weed out the idiots in their midst. I try as an IT pro to weed out the idiots, and it is a never ending battle...
Al Patterson
Ferroequinologist
As I said in my reply to my own message, it is a small percentage of police who seem to not get it. The majority are professional. We need to make sure the bad cops get weeded out before doing stupid sh1t like the LEO in the article in the original post...
clayne
shoot film or die
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Oh it's only a matter of time...:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDBZr4ie2AE
Some other fine police work:
http://raniakhalek.com/2013/05/10/u...ded-for-his-life-as-police-beat-him-to-death/
But hey, I guess it's perfectly normal and controlled for 9 officers to beat someone to death and none of them to take notice of what is happening and put a stop to it.
Pablito
coco frío
Just so long as they are not too smart.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/court-oks-barring-high-iqs-cops/story?id=95836#.Ued9lT6gl8s
E__WOK
Well-known
Nice to see you bashing cops again. Shall I link the thread with the dog getting shot?
I hope they are obsessed with power, control, and domination, because that is what they need in order to do their jobs.
Say what??? Police are accountable to the civilian populace? 😕
A dog is not a human being.
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