Police abuses

**Hosakawa Tito** · 03-11-2009, 13:41

That brotherhood happens a lot in other government departments. Just watch what happens to whistle blowers. It also happens in any large organization (NGO's, Corporations etc), and more so where the organization is under pressure, understaffed (and has a hard time recruiting, as management will be loath to let go any head count), and has a lack of transparency and accountability.

There is a stigma attached to being a whistle blower aka snitch, and it applies to all groups and work environments from school children on up. Some of it is justified because sometimes the whistle blower/snitch has their own not so virtuous agenda in mind. Even those with the best intentions are going to be reluctant or soon discover the fact of this stigma. It is most extreme in a prison setting. Among the inmate population snitches are despised more than baby rapers, and in any serious disturbance or riot the first ones the rioters go after are the snitches.

Among law enforcement & military grunts, snitches are also not socially acceptable and are considered a tool of the darker side of management. In my department our internal investigative unit is called IG, Inspector General. Most of the investigators are also ex corrections officers and are about as popular as a dose of the clap. Been that way long before my time, and probably will continue to be long after I'm gone.

**Crazed Rabbit** · 03-13-2009, 20:28

Originally Posted by Hosakawa Tito

There is a stigma attached to being a whistle blower aka snitch, and it applies to all groups and work environments from school children on up. Some of it is justified because sometimes the whistle blower/snitch has their own not so virtuous agenda in mind. Even those with the best intentions are going to be reluctant or soon discover the fact of this stigma. It is most extreme in a prison setting. Among the inmate population snitches are despised more than baby rapers, and in any serious disturbance or riot the first ones the rioters go after are the snitches.

Among law enforcement & military grunts, snitches are also not socially acceptable and are considered a tool of the darker side of management. In my department our internal investigative unit is called IG, Inspector General. Most of the investigators are also ex corrections officers and are about as popular as a dose of the clap. Been that way long before my time, and probably will continue to be long after I'm gone.

Unlike other groups, however, the police enforce the law. They deform the very justice system when they cover up for each other.

It's also near the third anniversary of a man killed for making small-time bets with friends:

Sal Culosi

Sal Culosi was shot and killed by a Fairfax County cop three years ago last Saturday.

He was about to be arrested for taking football bets, the quarry of a dubious sting operation that seemed timed to make a news splash ahead of the upcoming Super Bowl. (Why dubious? Well, the only major bettor was an undercover police officer, and the alleged bookie, Culosi, covered all the bets himself.)

Culosi had no criminal record and owned and operated an optometry practice. He was unarmed, not fully dressed, and standing in front of his house in Fair Lakes when a bullet from a SWAT team member’s pistol went through his heart.

County officials say the killing was an accident, and that Officer Deval Bullock unintentionally fired the .45-caliber kill shot. According to the county’s version of events, a car door grazed Bullock’s arm and caused his trigger finger to twitch.

No criminal charges were ever filed against Culosi’s killer. Veteran prosecutor Robert Horan, in explaining shortly after the shooting why he wouldn’t pursue an indictment against the officer, said Bullock was tired from working an organized deer hunt in the morning before he killed Culosi.

Why call out a SWAT team? So they can play dress up and pretend they're like real soldiers? Getting away with murder.

Also, this article by the former Police Chief of Seattle helps explain why brutality occurs:

Disclosure: During my rookie days back in the sixties as a San Diego police officer I used excessive force, more than once. I remember most of the incidents, though I'm sure I've conveniently forgotten some. I'm ashamed, wish to hell I hadn't done it. But I did, and visceral memories of these incidents help shape an answer to the question of why certain cops engage in brutal behavior, and others don't.
...
So, how do we prevent this kind of behavior in the future?

Please don't say through (1) more thorough screening of law enforcement candidates, or (2) better training. They're both important, of course. Critical, in fact. But law enforcement, for the most part, doesn't pick bad apples. It makes them, and not through academy training.

Forty-three years ago I was an idealistic, vaguely liberal 21-year-old when the San Diego Police Department hired me. The last thing on my mind was taking to the streets to punish people. And lest there be any doubt about the department's policy, the police academy, even then, drove it home: excessive force was grounds for termination.

So, why did I abuse the very people I'd been hired to serve?

Not to get too psychological, I did it because the power of my position went straight to my head; because other cops I'd come to admire did it; and because I thought I could get away with it. Which I did--until a principled prosecutor slapped me upside the head and demanded to know whether the U.S. Constitution meant anything to me.

It comes down to this: real cops, those with a conscience, those who honor the law, must step up and take control of the cop culture.

Some others here have mentioned upgrading technology, which I also think is good. Ideally, cops would be on tape whenever they are working.

CR

**Whacker** · 03-13-2009, 22:12

Several folks have mentioned increased surveillance through technical means of law enforcement. I couldn't agree more with this, nothing makes people thing things through more carefully than realizing they are being recorded.

However.........

I think the bigger problem by far is that even WHEN things ARE recorded, such as the numerous posts in this thread of law enforcement being generally out of control for no real reason, nothing has happened to majority of the individuals involved, barring an occasional "paid leave".

The bottom line is that this kind of crap isn't going to stop unless the behavior is cut off at the knees. Just like little children, they learn what they can and can't get away with, and will cheerfully do whatever they know they shouldn't because they know there will be no repercussions.

**Crazed Rabbit** · 03-14-2009, 00:28

Originally Posted by Whacker

I think the bigger problem by far is that even WHEN things ARE recorded, such as the numerous posts in this thread of law enforcement being generally out of control for no real reason, nothing has happened to majority of the individuals involved, barring an occasional "paid leave".

The bottom line is that this kind of crap isn't going to stop unless the behavior is cut off at the knees. Just like little children, they learn what they can and can't get away with, and will cheerfully do whatever they know they shouldn't because they know there will be no repercussions.

Indeed.

Anyway, here's a video that proves a Chicago Cop arrested a sober man and lied about what happened on his report:
http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/1...ideo11.article

Apparently they are 'considering' filing charges against the cop.

CR

**Lord Winter** · 03-14-2009, 07:12

In all fairness though, don't the cops deserve the benfit of the doubt in some cases?

**Crazed Rabbit** · 03-14-2009, 09:13

We can't give the benefit of the doubt to a group of people who have and will continue to lie to protect themselves and their compatriots. They only tell the truth when it is convenient for them.

They have squandered and abused the benefit the public has given them, and as such do not deserve it.

CR

**Major Robert Dump** · 03-14-2009, 20:06

Originally Posted by Lord Winter

In all fairness though, don't the cops deserve the benfit of the doubt in some cases?

Um, no, because of that whole "innocent until proven guilty" thing we pride ourselves on. Police Officers carry a huge authority and responsibility, a very tough job. But the mere fact that one has a badge means ones word is the gospel, 100% truth, and when it turns out an officer has blatantly lied to protect himself or to punish an innocent then that officer has perverted justice, the law and the constitution and should not only be fired, but prosecuted as well.

**Lord Winter** · 03-14-2009, 20:11

No ones denying that there are bad cops, and that they should be fired. I understand CR's arguement about the stigma of whistleblowing, but I still think you can take many isolated examples and blow them out of proportion. For example the story that first started this thread, could the officer have handled it better, yes. That does not make him an evil saddistic beign though.

**Major Robert Dump** · 03-30-2009, 13:49

Guy gets ticket for not having a front license plate, sees cop off duty later with no front license plate and cop denies being a cop, sees cops at police station where several of the vehicles don't have fron license plates:

http://www.break.com/index/police-double-standards.html

You know, a posting by a fellow taverner in another thread who thinks its a giant media conspiracy against cops has rekindled my gusto to dog up some of the older stories that were posted in the thread that I believe was started when the off-duty air force guy was shot.

So far, I'm not having much luck as the examples I am trying to get from Oklahoma City are not showing up in the archives of the states only real online news source, The Daily Oklahoman, because it appears they don't archive online that far back. Anyway, looks like we are running out of recent stuff (give it a few days, right?) so I'll keep looking.

In the meantime, heres the one that started it all the first time:
Deputy pulls over car after short chase and crash, the drunk illegal immigrant driver flees, the passenger -- an iraqi war vet -- is on the ground trying to talk his way out of having a gun pointed at him. Note the cops dash cam would not have recorded this, and the cops initial report was complete BS but taken as the word of God (even though the wounded vet and eyewitnesses denied what the cop said was true) and was recanted and prosecuted only when the video shot by a bystander was aired.

cop: "get up, get up" BANG BANG (victim screams) shut the **** up

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...0568157&q=ktla

**KukriKhan** · 03-30-2009, 14:46

So backroom consensus is: Police = teh bad.

This pdf survey of US police departments as part of city/county budgets works out to about $200 per resident, per year for police services.

Should we do away with police, since they are so bad? Take back that money? Hire rent-a-cops instead?