What can I tell you Moorluck, I've been arrested too; or rather, handcuffed, not mirandized and let go because, as you said, I did as I was told and cooperated fully.
There's no doubt in my mind that police work is stressfull. I live in a state where an off duty police officer was shot by an on duty officer.
However, given the opportunity for abuse, I can't see how a record of police behavior is a bad thing.
I, too, have never been arrested as an adult--and that is because I take meticulous efforts to always be in accordance with the laws at all time.
I been arrested a few times and my own f@*!ing father who was the one who arrested me.
G+&@*~nit so much.
Hometown? I am disappoint. What happened? You used to be cool.
Also, as an aside to Barcas - do you believe in a 'humanity saturation point' in your line of work? One of my theories about why the amount of antipathy towards law enforcement (and not just from my ethnic demographic) has increased is because people are spending either too long in the force, or too long in a specific precinct/district.
Personally, I think it more has to do with the reduction of the role of the 'beat' cop, and the increasing praamilitarization of law enforcement, in no small part due to the 'War' on Drugs, and general pressures from people one has to deal with...and a side order of the fact that so many go into the force for the reasons you describe, not purely out of having a hard-on for authority, but over time having to spend more and more time dealing with the proverbial hind-quarters of humanity leads to a reduced desire to protect and an increasingly jaded unto antagonistic anticipation that all people are essentially three seconds away from becoming an episode of COPS.
If you'd rather answer by PM, I can understand that - it's more of a random curiosity than professional interview, but seldom is the opportunity presented where a candid answer can be obtained.
|
If you're getting consistently ticketed, you're doing something wrong. I gave about one ticket per five stops when I was on patrol.
I have seen good, honest police work firsthand on a daily, consistent basis. I am one of many decent, honest, hard-working police officers who signed up to make my hometown a better place and to protect decent folks from the criminals who would prey on them.
You are ignorant of what we do, sir. You are biased against us, and it is wholly unfair. Police work is one of the few professions where a mere 1% can reflect poorly on all of us. Do not judge all officers on the bad acts of a minute percentage, as visible and disappointing as those are.
HPD or one of those punk ass constables? Huge difference in professionalism and general dickish behavior between the two. HPD has almost always treated me with respect and courtesy, and I give them props most of the time. But they have their bad apples as well. Constables are just about universally a+&+*!%s. One exception: dude coving my back side while I waited for a tow truck, but he wasn't as much cool as he wanted to play Mafia Wars while on duty on his laptop. Metro cops tend to run 50/50 in my experience.
If you're a Bellaire cop, I know you're lying.
Well, HD, you've got bigger balls than I.
I am unfamiliar with the sights and sounds of Texas. I presume Bellaire is not a collection of gated communities?
Also, my condolences.
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I have lived in texas most of my lif.Generally sp eaking the small the town more likely you will be harassed.Hpd by and large are decent cops.The sherriffs and constables are scary asell though.That being said a bad hpd officer can ruin your life so I expect them to hold to a higher standard.
I never go to Bellaire for any reason whatsoever.
I venture there whenever my jones for Korean food gets the better of me.
The sheriffs and constables are scary as hell though. That being said a bad hpd officer can ruin your life so I expect them to hold to a higher standard.
I liked the Sam Elliot wanna-be I met at a wedding in Clear Lake, who introduced himself as a "Christian sheriff," who had "the legal authority to uphold the Bible." I'm hoping his badge was fake -- I can tell you his gigantic pistol (worn with exaggerated pride right there in the audience) wasn't.
Bush on the Constitution: 'It's just a g+#$$*ned piece of paper'
Capital Hill Blue/DOUG THOMPSON | December 9 2005
Last month, Republican Congressional leaders filed into the Oval Office to meet with President George W. Bush and talk about renewing the controversial USA Patriot Act.
Several provisions of the act, passed in the shell shocked period immediately following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, caused enough anger that liberal groups like the American Civil Liberties Union had joined forces with prominent conservatives like Phyllis Schlafly and Bob Barr to oppose renewal.
GOP leaders told Bush that his hardcore push to renew the more onerous provisions of the act could further alienate conservatives still mad at the President from his botched attempt to nominate White House Counsel Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court.
“I don’t give a g$$$#$n,” Bush retorted. “I’m the President and the Commander-in-Chief. Do it my way.”
“Mr. President,” one aide in the meeting said. “There is a valid case that the provisions in this law undermine the Constitution.”
“Stop throwing the Constitution in my face,” Bush screamed back. “It’s just a g!$$@~ned piece of paper!”
I’ve talked to three people present for the meeting that day and they all confirm that the President of the United States called the Constitution “a g%@#%#ned piece of paper.”
And, to the Bush Administration, the Constitution of the United States is little more than toilet paper stained from all the s@+$ that this group of power-mad despots have dumped on the freedoms that “g~&#%$ned piece of paper” used to guarantee.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, while still White House counsel, wrote that the “Constitution is an outdated document.”
Put aside, for a moment, political affiliation or personal beliefs. It doesn’t matter if you are a Democrat, Republican or Independent. It doesn’t matter if you support the invasion or Iraq or not. Despite our differences, the Constitution has stood for two centuries as the defining document of our government, the final source to determine – in the end – if something is legal or right.
Every federal official – including the President – who takes an oath of office swears to “uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States."
Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia says he cringes when someone calls the Constitution a “living document.”
“"Oh, how I hate the phrase we have—a 'living document,’” Scalia says. “We now have a Constitution that means whatever we want it to mean. The Constitution is not a living organism, for Pete's sake.”
As a judge, Scalia says, “I don't have to prove that the Constitution is perfect; I just have to prove that it's better than anything else.”
President Bush has proposed seven amendments to the Constitution over the last five years, including a controversial amendment to define marriage as a “union between a man and woman.” Members of Congress have proposed some 11,000 amendments over the last decade, ranging from repeal of the right to bear arms to a Constitutional ban on abortion.
Scalia says the danger of tinkering with the Constitution comes from a loss of rights.
“We can take away rights just as we can grant new ones,” Scalia warns. “Don't think that it's a one-way street.”
And don’t buy the White House hype that the USA Patriot Act is a necessary tool to fight terrorism. It is a dangerous law that infringes on the rights of every American citizen and, as one brave aide told President Bush, something that undermines the Constitution of the United States.
But why should Bush care? After all, the Constitution is just “a g&*$@+ned piece of paper.”
Where I work, you consent to being videotaped every minute you're on property, except, I hope, the locker rooms and bathrooms.
Also, in the wise words of Our Glorious Uncle Joe, "Paper will take anything written on it."
My word should be sufficient as evidence. Any evidence beyond that is just gravy.
This attitude is exactly why I don't like cops in general. In Florida where I am, the word of police in traffic matters is sufficient evidence for a conviction. One is guilty unless they can prove themselves innocent.
Essentially, traffic laws in Florida allow a police officer to write a ticket, testify, if the defendant can't prove a negative they are guilty, no trial by jury is allowed, the government takes your property via fines and that is your due process. Very unconstitutional, but then again, who's going to the supreme court over a $100 ticket.
So, yes, this attitude of "my word should be sufficient as evidence" is very common among police and it is a very dangerous culture.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Wait - didn't you switch presidents?
They're the same guy. Dubya bought a rubber mask and took some speech lessons, then got himself re-elected for a third term.
There is no right to privacy in the Constitution! The Constitution, many esteemed judges have said, is a living document. But it does not live in a cage in the basement of the Supreme Court building, behind a door marked "Authorized Personnel Only." If the American people want a constitutional right to privacy, it is in their power to create one.