Servin' & Protectin' re-re-redux

[billydkid]

http://www.reason.com/blog/show/132354.html

[LibraryLady]

Billy, is there a specific reason that you dislike law enforcement agents so intensely? Forgive me if you've stated it elsewhere.

[technoextreme]

http://www.reason.com/blog/show/132354.html
Would you stop making a thread every time you want to prove well absolutely nothing new.

[Drudgewire]

What if I want to keep salt and pepper or parmisan cheese separate from the rest of my bag lunch?

It's ridiculous to make those little baggies illegal. http://www.lethalwrestling.com/upload/colbert.gif

[dudalb]

Someone has a problem with Authroity figures, methinks.

[fuelair]

Someone has a problem with Authroity figures, methinks.Mostly, in many of these cases, authority figures running amuck - which really is a problem if you are the one being amucked.

The police have a hard job - one I would not want in the conditions that exist today. But the ways some go past the limits need careful examination followed by serious punishment - and this definitely qualifies assuming the story is pretty much as reported.

[dudalb]

Mostly, in many of these cases, authority figures running amuck - which really is a problem if you are the one being amucked.

The police have a hard job - one I would not want in the conditions that exist today. But the ways some go past the limits need careful examination followed by serious punishment - and this definitely qualifies assuming the story is pretty much as reported.

I agree, but billythekid posts a constant flood of threads on this topic, and some of the complaints are pretty petty.
Police abuse of power is a legit topic, but with billythekid it's hard to deny he just does not like cops..or any other authroity figure..period.

[Bikewer]

It's no mystery that human beings are capable of being naughty, even ones we are supposed to trust. One of the first cases I was involved in long ago was a physician who was abusing his position by selling prescriptions for huge quantities of "diet pills" to anyone who came into his office.
Just a glance through the newspaper will reveal scandals involving clerics, judges, financial analysts, teachers.... One could go on and on.

Also, at times the lurid accounts that appear on blogs and such will prove to be at odds with the actual facts of the case.

[fuelair]

It's no mystery that human beings are capable of being naughty, even ones we are supposed to trust. One of the first cases I was involved in long ago was a physician who was abusing his position by selling prescriptions for huge quantities of "diet pills" to anyone who came into his office.
Just a glance through the newspaper will reveal scandals involving clerics, judges, financial analysts, teachers.... One could go on and on.

Also, at times the lurid accounts that appear on blogs and such will prove to be at odds with the actual facts of the case.Too true - that's why we, hopefully, wait for verified data beforr making absolute decisions.

[fuelair]

I agree, but billythekid posts a constant flood of threads on this topic, and some of the complaints are pretty petty.
Police abuse of power is a legit topic, but with billythekid it's hard to deny he just does not like cops..or any other authroity figure..period.No argument - and not sure why, overall - but must admit that some of them are on target.:)

[daredelvis]

Won't click on a link to anything on "reason". If they have something worthwhile to say it is allowed within the forum rules to quote small portions, and state an opinion.

Forced myself to sit through that Stossel garbage that ABC deems prime time worthy last week. Almost all of the "experts" on one segment were from "reason" pimping their agenda driven conclusions, with no disclaimers. That is enough exposure to "reason" for ten lifetimes.

To paraphrase Andre Codrescu, "If the people who believe in this crap would just all go John Gault it would leave the world a better place." Throw the rapture in on top of it, and we would all prosper (until we were wiped out by a virus spread through a dirty telephone).


Daredelvis

[schplurg]

billydkid (http://forums.randi.org/member.php?u=663)
Illuminator



So, illuminate me.

[technoextreme]

It's no mystery that human beings are capable of being naughty, even ones we are supposed to trust. One of the first cases I was involved in long ago was a physician who was abusing his position by selling prescriptions for huge quantities of "diet pills" to anyone who came into his office.
Just a glance through the newspaper will reveal scandals involving clerics, judges, financial analysts, teachers.... One could go on and on.

Also, at times the lurid accounts that appear on blogs and such will prove to be at odds with the actual facts of the case.
Yeah I know at the rate we are going we will see the re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re redux. It kind of annoys me too because I feel left out being in a field where corruption can sometimes kill.

[billydkid]

First, here's a helpful forum hint that I discovered quite by accident some time ago - if there's a OP title by someone who's posting you don't approve of or generally enjoy or if it is indicative of a topic you might not enjoy or might find tiresome or offensive (and it's so obvious, I wonder that I didn't notice it sooner) what you do is, you don't click on it and open it up. Voila'! You're saved all sorts of inner turmoil! And if, inadvertantly, you click on the thread and there's a link to something that you may feel might offend your sensibilities, there's another little trick I learned - close it back up and don't read it. Man, it's really saved me a lot of exasperation. Maybe it will help you too.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/032609dnmetcopstop.3e9c080.html

I have heard it argued that police have a hard and dangerous job and certainly they do and we have to cut them a little slack for being human, but then I guess we also have to cut them some slack for being inhuman too.

[Tiktaalik]

When I see one of these threads I'm always tempted to start a "Another cop gone good" thread to link to the many, many stories out there about cops peforming admirably or risking their lives to save others or being shot & killed on the job.

But I don't because I know it won't make any difference, and most people are more interested in reading the heinous & wrong rather than the boring ol' everyday good stuff. Besides, most of my links are on websites that require signing up.

[The Central Scrutinizer]

http://www.reason.com/blog/show/132354.html

This is as far as I got: www.reason.com (http://www.reason.com)

Can you tell me what the article says?

[TraneWreck]

You have to be careful when you talk about law enforcement, it's difficult to make generalizations.

On the one hand I worked a lot of public service legal cases in Chicago where I watched cops do some great work. I was always working for the defense, but there were plenty of cops doing their best in an impossible situation. I don't think people can appreciate how difficult that kind of work can be.

On the other hand, as an example, in Chicago between about '77-'82 we had endless examples of police officers using the same entrapment method to intimidate and harrass black citizens. They would have an undercover officer walk around an El station with a twenty dollar bill hanging out of her purse. She would intentionally drop it and then go up an escalator or get on a train. They would arrest whoever picked up the money first, assuming they were young and black.

I was also at a rally protesting Dubya's suspect rise to the presidency in 2000 and watched an undercover cop start a fight with people carrying signs. He refused to identify himself and beat some kid so badly that they had to take him to the hospital. They arrested everyone who tried to pull the unidentified cop off of the kid. In the fracus I saw a uniformed officer kick a pregnant woman in the belly. That, incidentally, is all on tape, as one of my friends brought a camera.

So what do you do? You have some percentage of cops risking their lives to make us safe, and you have a bunch of dumb, bottom of their high school class, violence freaks who want to shove their guns in peoples' faces and write them chicken **** traffic tickets to show off their authority.

Now that I'm going to probably be a prosecuter of some sort, I'm curious to see what cops are like from the inside.