^ that’s why we all wear American flags when travelling. Oh wait…now I’m confused
Not all of them are corrupt criminals, but you’d better believe that the ones who stand up to wrongdoing within their departments are pretty much screwed. They’d have no chance of career advancement and are essentially blacklisted. So none of them do the right thing, and citizens get the shaft. That’s a trend I’m seeing around around the nation. And if they’re protecting themselves before citizens, that’s a problem.
Not every department is like that. Mine, in a major Texas city, is full of it. It didn’t used to be until we got a new police with an “us. vs. them” mentality.
^ Maybe there wouldn’t be an “us vs. them” mentality if people didn’t go around saying all cops are corrupt criminals.
Is your daddy a cop or something? I used to have no problems with them. I just told you the us. vs. them was the result of a new police chief. That changed the way they act.
Here’s a finance related example of shenanigans in my city. We have a real estate PE firm in my city run by a total crook. He raises money for a big project, then never does anything with the property and just spends the money on himself. Its well known in the investment community that he’s being investigated by federal agents, and no joke the FBI is calling former employees.
During all of this, he pays the CIO of the policeman’s pension fund a $100,000 “consulting fee” for how to raise institutional capital from other pension funds, or something equally stupid. 30 days later, the CIO commits $20 million to their fund. No due diligence whatsoever. That is a clear bribe.
This makes the papers, and people are pissed. The official statement from the policemans union was “We find no wrongdoing because nothing in our governing documents prohibits such arrangements”
That investment will go to zero, and the bailout will come from taxes.
I agree.
However, what do you think about New York’s “stop and frisk” policy?
Whenever I am walking down a block and finding cars parked every which way, all over the place, in the most ridiculous manners imaginable, I know I’m right next to a police precinct.
This part irritates me immensely - I get a $115 fine because I’m parked 14 rather than 15 feet away from a fire hydrant, but you can barely drive through West 100th street between Amsterdam and Columbus because there are cars triple parked in some quasi-jigsaw approximation, and with half the cars parked 3 feet onto the sidewalk.
(Here’s a view on Google Maps. - and this is on a relatively good/light day (you can tell because there are some parking spaces empty). The cars look like they are moving, but most of them are parked!)
Here’s another, on West 35th Street.
As for police silence on corruption, it seems to be an institutional problem in that any officer who reports another officer is likely to face career ending retribution (or worse) from fellow officers of similar rank. It’s just too dangerous. But that doesn’t mean everyone is actively corrupt.
No cops in my family except a distant cousin (retired). I’m not denying that corruption occurs in police departments, just as it occurs in other “industries”. To suggest that all cops, or even a majority of cops, are corrupt or “bad cops” is just a ridiculous as suggesting that everyone in finance is a crook who steals from little old ladies.
I don’t live in NYC and have not be stopped and frisked while there, but I would have no problem being frisked if it was within the guidelines of the policy. In fact, I flew to Orlando last week to visit the giant rat with my family and was selected by TSA for a physical pat down. Although I didn’t enjoy being groped in public by another man (well maybe a little), I understand the need for it and had no problem being patted down. Would I prefer that we could still arrive at the airport 15 mintues before our flight and run straight to the gate? Of course I would, but that’s not the world we live in anymore. It’s not my fault we don’t live in that world anymore and it’s not the fault of the TSA agent either. Was the world or my flight made safer by me being felt up? No, but maybe tomorrow or the next day or next week or whenever, the guy who’s selected will be the bad guy and lives will be saved.
One thing I will agree with all the cop-haters on is the disregard for parking laws by virtually every cop in the country. It’s annoying that cops park wherever they please, regardless of an actual need to do so, but I have to admit that I would do it too, so it’s more about jealousy than anything else.
Loved the “well, maybe a little” comment, higgs. Good comic relief!
I agree, and I’m sure there are some true American badasses wearing blue (or in my city, black, to be more intimidating).
The problem with your comparison is that in finance, if I work for a Madoff or Stanford type and knowingly allow him to steal from clients, I lose my license and go to jail. If I separate myself from those activities, I have a chance of salvaging my career elsewhere. I don’t see that in the Police force. In fact I see paid leave for a few weeks until the media loses interest, then back to normal.
They make an oath to protect and serve, and I made an oath to act in the best interest of my clients. Similar concepts, drastically different in practice.
A cop shot an innocent guy in the back of the head a few years ago in my city. There were other officers present, and nobody is saying anything. The cop retired early with full pension to avoid any consequences. That’s wrong.
One time a meathead cop in a small town outside Philly called me “boss” or “chief” or something like that. I cannot stand that, so that is the closest I’ve come to assaulting an officer (and it wasn’t very close). But, most cops are good and there are some bad eggs. In Philly, there were a bunch of cops that would rob bodegas in neighborhoods they patrolled. They knew nobody would catch them because they were the ones that were supposed to be doing the catching. That said, it takes some guts to be a cop in a major city and they definitely make things better. Out of large government organizations, they do a pretty effective job.
Things like that are unsettling and unfortunate, but are far from the norm. Bad cops often lose their jobs and pensions and even go to prison. That doesn’t make for interesting news though, so we don’t hear about it.
Public Service Announcement / Must Watch Video below:
Never talk to the police. They are not your friend. I support the views of NWA and Ice-T.
That’s what I learned in Training Day.
Amen.
Maybe, but as Higgmond said, those are non-intersecting subsets of the set of all cops.
Loser cops join police forces patrolling typical universities, suburbs, small towns. Crime may exist but nothing like big cities or gang areas.
Don’t get me started on UCSD cops.
San Diego cops? I’ve got a story too if that’s what you mean.
You were profiled son, get over it. He pulled over a well dressed financier in a nice whip because he knows the check sent in for the fine won’t bounce. The nigga in the hooptie would just be a headache of admin costs, missed court dates, and paperwork…