law enforcement in america

[Webster]

You're always going to have bad apples when it comes to law enforcement...which reminds me of an ancedotal quote by former Los Angeles police chief William Parker, who was asked how the LAPD was going to try to deal with incidences of police brutality, corruption, etc.,...his response was thus:

We'll always have cases like this because we have one big problem in selecting police officers...we have to recruit from the human race.

That last bit could sum up, in a nutshell, why there will always be bad apples w/in law enforcement and why we can never fully eradicate it....and why we must have a vigilant public to serve as a watch over them.

very good, now you're making sense here...

but there are ways of fighting corruption and to stop, or try to at least, the bad apples, but those steps aren't being taken...

specific laws and harsh punishment for law enforcement that commits crime would make a cop think twice about going to the dark side as well as other interventions that will work against such acts...

police being punished like everyone else is the first start...

No argument there except for one point....

specific laws and harsh punishment for law enforcement that commits crime would make a cop think twice about going to the dark side as well as other interventions that will work against such acts...

...when you convince the average person to go along with that, it'll happen. Problem there is most people will give law enforcement the benefit of the doubt even when there are clear-cut cases of corruption and police corruption.

Don't believe me? Just read about Frank Serpico and what he went through as a member of New York's Finest.

 

[WHO IS SERAFIN]

no, it's saying that be a good little sheep and not make the cop mad and maybe, just maybe you wont get beat up or shot...

No, it is saying obey the law. And if you do get question by one of the overwhelming majority of good cops treat the guy who puts his life in danger on a daily basis with a modest amount of respect.

 

[WHO IS SERAFIN]

You're always going to have bad apples when it comes to law enforcement...which reminds me of an ancedotal quote by former Los Angeles police chief William Parker, who was asked how the LAPD was going to try to deal with incidences of police brutality, corruption, etc.,...his response was thus:

We'll always have cases like this because we have one big problem in selecting police officers...we have to recruit from the human race.

That last bit could sum up, in a nutshell, why there will always be bad apples w/in law enforcement and why we can never fully eradicate it....and why we must have a vigilant public to serve as a watch over them.

very good, now you're making sense here...

but there are ways of fighting corruption and to stop, or try to at least, the bad apples, but those steps aren't being taken...

specific laws and harsh punishment for law enforcement that commits crime would make a cop think twice about going to the dark side as well as other interventions that will work against such acts...

police being punished like everyone else is the first start...

So different laws and standards for different people? Bad idea!

 

[+paradox]

no, it's saying that be a good little sheep and not make the cop mad and maybe, just maybe you wont get beat up or shot...

No, it is saying obey the law. And if you do get question by one of the overwhelming majority of good cops treat the guy who puts his life in danger on a daily basis with a modest amount of respect.

you have this idea that cops are always right, and that they must be respected just because they have a gun... police officers are just like everyone else, they must obey rules and laws as well... the police works for the people so it's the police that should have a higher standard of excellence and respect... just because they volunteer to have a job as a cop doesn't mean that they deserve the up most respect, especially when they know the dangers... and if someone is too fat, too stupid, too scared or too trigger happy to be a cop then they shouldn't... it's like they let just any one be a cop these days...

you say the overwhelming majority of good cops yet day after day cops are getting into trouble... why is that?

 

[+paradox]

You're always going to have bad apples when it comes to law enforcement...which reminds me of an ancedotal quote by former Los Angeles police chief William Parker, who was asked how the LAPD was going to try to deal with incidences of police brutality, corruption, etc.,...his response was thus:

We'll always have cases like this because we have one big problem in selecting police officers...we have to recruit from the human race.

That last bit could sum up, in a nutshell, why there will always be bad apples w/in law enforcement and why we can never fully eradicate it....and why we must have a vigilant public to serve as a watch over them.

very good, now you're making sense here...

but there are ways of fighting corruption and to stop, or try to at least, the bad apples, but those steps aren't being taken...

specific laws and harsh punishment for law enforcement that commits crime would make a cop think twice about going to the dark side as well as other interventions that will work against such acts...

police being punished like everyone else is the first start...

So different laws and standards for different people? Bad idea!

ain't that what it is right now? that the cops have above the law powers?

i'm talking about special laws for government officials that if they want to turn bad then the punishment will be harsh, that way they will think twice before doing anything stupid or illegal...

makes me wonder why you're against such a thing when it will help fight corruption, unless you like police/government corruption?

plus, the police must do and handle things that the public can't or not allowed... and they work for the people so of course they should have a higher standard when it comes to service and breaking the law when they know they shouldn't... there's too many examples...

the american police are acting in a way that it is shameful and a disgrace...

they know it and the people knows it...

 

[WHO IS SERAFIN]

no, it's saying that be a good little sheep and not make the cop mad and maybe, just maybe you wont get beat up or shot...

No, it is saying obey the law. And if you do get question by one of the overwhelming majority of good cops treat the guy who puts his life in danger on a daily basis with a modest amount of respect.

you have this idea that cops are always right, and that they must be respected just because they have a gun... police officers are just like everyone else, they must obey rules and laws as well... the police works for the people so it's the police that should have a higher standard of excellence and respect... just because they volunteer to have a job as a cop doesn't mean that they deserve the up most respect, especially when they know the dangers... and if someone is too fat, too stupid, too scared or too trigger happy to be a cop then they shouldn't... it's like they let just any one be a cop these days...

you say the overwhelming majority of good cops yet day after day cops are getting into trouble... why is that?

Never anywhere have I said cops are always right. They make mistakes and stupid decisions like anyone else. But we have a million cops in America and it is a overwhelming majority that do the job because they care about society and the people who want to live in a safe environment.

 

[WHO IS SERAFIN]

So different laws and standards for different people? Bad idea!

ain't that what it is right now? that the cops have above the law powers?

No.

i'm talking about special laws for government officials that if they want to turn bad then the punishment will be harsh, that way they will think twice before doing anything stupid or illegal...

Do not need it and it is a bad idea to have different laws for different people. Whatever is currently against the law for us is against the law for them.

makes me wonder why you're against such a thing when it will help fight corruption, unless you like police/government corruption?

I am against it because it is a bad idea.

plus, the police must do and handle things that the public can't or not allowed... and they work for the people so of course they should have a higher standard when it comes to service and breaking the law when they know they shouldn't... there's too many examples...

the american police are acting in a way that it is shameful and a disgrace...

they know it and the people knows it...

As I said we have a million police and we are talking 1 to 4 percent on the high end that are bad so the normal people know it is not true but the radical one who want chaos are wishing people would think such nonsense.

 

[+paradox]

no, it's saying that be a good little sheep and not make the cop mad and maybe, just maybe you wont get beat up or shot...

No, it is saying obey the law. And if you do get question by one of the overwhelming majority of good cops treat the guy who puts his life in danger on a daily basis with a modest amount of respect.

you have this idea that cops are always right, and that they must be respected just because they have a gun... police officers are just like everyone else, they must obey rules and laws as well... the police works for the people so it's the police that should have a higher standard of excellence and respect... just because they volunteer to have a job as a cop doesn't mean that they deserve the up most respect, especially when they know the dangers... and if someone is too fat, too stupid, too scared or too trigger happy to be a cop then they shouldn't... it's like they let just any one be a cop these days...

you say the overwhelming majority of good cops yet day after day cops are getting into trouble... why is that?

Never anywhere have I said cops are always right. They make mistakes and stupid decisions like anyone else. But we have a million cops in America and it is a overwhelming majority that do the job because they care about society and the people who want to live in a safe environment.

i never said you did say that, i'm telling you that you think or you have this fallacy idea that cops are always right due to what you post liberty... and you enjoy posting numbers and figures with-out links to sources... you say that the majority of cops are good? well then, i say the majority of cops do wrong on the daily bases with out giving you any sources... and the fact that so many police officers are reportedly breaking the law in some way, shape or form...

 

[+paradox]

There are more than 900,000 sworn law enforcement officers now serving in the United States, which is the highest figure ever. About 12 percent of those are female. http://www.nleomf.org/facts/enforcement/

and that's a few years ago, with the police brutality getting worse...

and note that most people don't bother by filing a report against a cop because history tells us that the police departments will almost always "help" their officers...

all i'm saying is there's truth that police officers don't get punished like the average Nebulous does... but that's not right, it's sad really...

 

[WHO IS SERAFIN]

There are more than 900,000 sworn law enforcement officers now serving in the United States, which is the highest figure ever. About 12 percent of those are female. http://www.nleomf.org/facts/enforcement/

and that's a few years ago, with the police brutality getting worse...

Criminals are getting worse looking for ways to get out of being convicted.

and note that most people don't bother by filing a report against a cop because history tells us that the police departments will almost always "help" their officers...

You are guessing and have no idea. And the ones that do complain I will guess and say 20% are bogus.

all i'm saying is there's truth that police officers don't get punished like the average Nebulous does... but that's not right, it's sad really...

Sure they do.

LOL! Your own source shows it is nowhere near all cops. Something we should be concerned about of course but it is not a epidemic.

And it looks to me our justice system is working just fine when bad cops are exposed. But you go on hating the very people who keep society safe.

And yes you did say I think cops are always right. Very clearly you said it. But I very clearly never wrote that or gave the idea I meant that.

 

[+paradox]

it is a epidemic, not everyone files a report against a cop, that's a fact, because most people don't think it would matter, in which they are right because most of the time it doesn't matter...

even cops are arresting cops by breaking the law of fallacy laws when this cop didn't break any law...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kd-gn-FtG30


or, what about this?

No Charges for Police Chief Who Used Badge to Try and Intimidate Teen into Posing Nude

New London, NH — New London’s former Police chief David Seastrand will not face any charges for using his authority to intimidate an 18-year-old college student into taking nude photos for him in exchange for dropping her underage alcohol charges.

The incident began on March 2, 2013, as Westfall was headed home from a party. Seastrant stopped the teen for carrying a can of beer. Westfall was subsequently charged with giving a false name and for being in possession of a beer can.

According to the Union Leader, four days later, Seastrand called her to the police station. The former chief told Westfall he needed to meet with her alone, and began discussing alternative measures of punishment, like community service, for the misdemeanors.

Westfall, who worked frequently as a babysitter, and who was planning to major in early childhood education, said she grew more scared.

Seastrand explained, she said, that they would go into the basement. “He said he would grab the station’s camera to shoot a series of nude photos of me, and then he’d hold it over my head for two years to be sure I didn’t commit another crime,” Westfall said.

“That’s when it was really chilling,” she said. “He’s standing there in uniform, he had his gun strapped on his side,” said Janelle Westfall recounting the horror of having a police officer intimidating her asking her to take lewd photos for him.

Seastrand then told Westfall that if she told anyone, he would deny it all.

As soon as she left the station she told her family. She told her uncle and her aunt, who were both police officers, who advised her to write down everything she remembered, while her father called the state police.

Westfall is now speaking public on this nightmare for the first time, saying that the state laws have failed her.


Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/charges-police-chief-badge-intimidate-teen-posing-nude/#Bbqqyh5QTh2d8FJj.99

 

[WHO IS SERAFIN]

Its a concern not a epidemic and cops should be treated to the same laws as everyone else when they break them. But with your own stats shown above its what maybe 5% of the police force that this website who probably has a agenda found these statistics. Just like any field of work there will be a percentage of bad and corrupt people.

You do not know for sure if others want to file police reports or if those who might want to file police reports even have legitimate claim.

As I said my only very large problem with our police force is from our federal government allowing it to become militarized. If the states need the big guns that is why we have the national guard.

 

[seasidemike]

I clearly do not agree with the violence and force used by police, but I would really hate their job.
How do you police people who carry guns? Who the police have no idea if they are high on crack or something?
How do you police people who say 'don't shoot us' when they go around shooting and killing each other all the time?

For the most part they are trying to do their jobs, and yet they have some smart assed kid with a camera asking the cop why he parked his motorcycle on the side walk.

It is a viscous circle, if the people don't respect the police, the police will not respect the people.

 

[+paradox]

The only reason why people lose respect for the police is due to constant disrespect the public gets from cops on the daily basis that makes the good ones look bad...

 

[Dee]

The only reason why people lose respect for the police is due to constant disrespect the public gets from cops on the daily basis that makes the good ones look bad...

There are many good cops out there, I don't deny it and neither do a lot of people. However, I can see where many people are coming from when we're talking about their distaste for the authorities. Why would they have such negative feelings about cops in the first place? Bad experiences, bad stories. You don't just generate negative feelings towards something if you haven't either heard bad things or experienced something bad yourself. That's just not how things work. Many of these people have legitimate reasons as to why they don't like police officers, but I think it's extreme to want to kill all cops. To want to prosecute and punish the bad ones, yes, but to kill them? No. It's sad how the dynamics between authorities and civilians has only continued to deteriorate. And unfortunately I don't see a whole lot of proactive measures being done on a wide scale in order to gain back the trust of the public. Many police department's mottos are no longer to protect and serve.

 

[+paradox]

especially if cops are illegally arresting other cops, now does that sound universal?

if even cops are being abused by their peers then something is really wrong!

 

[+paradox]

this old pathetic white guy is a real strong man now by lying and beating on an elderly woman:

this cop didn't get into any trouble yet the beaten woman gets 7 months in a maximum security prison?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pcTy8zZvMs

----------

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoUf-wYx5gM

A bizarre video from Ohio showing a cop holding three citizens at gunpoint (or maybe it was just a Taser) for apparently asking him to move from their driveway.

At one point in the video, the cop walks up to a witness trying to place a call and yanks the phone out of his hand, tossing it on a nearby lawn where the man just retrieves it.

there goes a cop thinking they can do whatever they want by illegally snatching a witness's phone out of his hand and throws it... the cop broke the law just for that yet will still have a job as police officer?

 

[+paradox]

Police Officer KNOCKS OUT Suspect And Then Lies About It!! JAIL KNOCKOUT!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OE42O0ZLeDs


Bad cop caught on tape arresting sober driver for DUI - Driver awarded $70,000 3 years later
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dBvFpfiaF8


Police caught framing woman for DUI on dashboard cam
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtNvxZ9yCcI


Police Caught Planting Drugs In Small Business
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMA1Otuat2U


Stolen Ipad Tracked To TSA Agent's House
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nUof8G47t0

 

[+paradox]

Ignorance Is No Excuse for Wrongdoing, Unless You’re a Cop

“f the individual is no longer to be sovereign, if the police can pick him up whenever they do not like the cut of his jib, if they can ‘seize’ and ‘search’ him in their discretion, we enter a new regime.”—U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, dissenting in Terry v. Ohio (1968)

With Orwellian irony, the U.S. Supreme Court chose December 15, National Bill of Rights Day to deliver its crushing blow to the Fourth Amendment. Although the courts have historically held that ignorance of the law is not an excuse for breaking the law, in its 8-1 ruling in Heien v. State of North Carolina, the Supreme Court gave police in America one more ready excuse to routinely violate the laws of the land, this time under the guise of ignorance.

The Heien case, which started with an improper traffic stop based on a police officer’s ignorance of the law and ended with an unlawful search, seizure and arrest, was supposed to ensure that ignorance of the law did not become a ready excuse for government officials to routinely violate the law.

It failed to do so.

In failing to enforce the Constitution, the Court gave police the go-ahead to justify a laundry list of misconduct, from police shootings of unarmed citizens to SWAT team raids, roadside strip searches, and the tasering of vulnerable individuals with paltry excuses such as “they looked suspicious” and “she wouldn’t obey our orders.”

When police handcuffed, strip-searched and arrested a disabled man for no reason other than he sounded incoherent, it was chalked up as a mistake. Gordon Goines, a 37-year-old disabled man suffering from a Lou Gehrigs-type disease, was “diagnosed” by police and an unlicensed mental health screener as having “mental health issues,” apparently because of his slurred speech and unsteady gait, and subsequently handcuffed, strip searched, and locked up for five days in a mental health facility against his will and with no access to family and friends. This was done despite the fact that police had no probable cause to believe that Goines had committed any crime, was a danger to himself or others, nor did they have any other legitimate lawful reason to seize, arrest or detain him. When Goines was finally released, police made no attempt to rectify their “mistake.”

“I didn’t know it was against the law” was the excuse police used to justify their repeated tasering of Malaika Brooks. Eight-months pregnant and on her way to drop her son off at school, Brooks was repeatedly tasered by Seattle police during a routine traffic stop simply because she refused to sign a speeding ticket. The cops who tasered the pregnant woman insisted they weren’t aware that repeated electro-shocks qualified as constitutionally excessive and unreasonable force. The Supreme Court gave the cops a “get out of jail” card.

“I thought he was reaching for a gun.” That was the excuse given when a police officer repeatedly shot 70-year-old Bobby Canipe during a traffic stop. The cop saw the man reaching for his cane and, believing the cane to be a rifle and fearing for his life, opened fire.  Police excused the shooting as “unfortunate” but “appropriate.”

“He was resisting arrest.” That was the rationale behind Eric Garner’s death. Garner, placed in a chokehold by police for allegedly resisting their attempts to arrest him for selling loose cigarettes, screamed “I can’t breathe” repeatedly, until he breathed his last breath. A grand jury ruled there was no “reasonable cause” to charge the arresting officer with Garner’s death.

And then you have the Heien case, which, while far less traumatic than Eric Garner’s chokehold death, was no less egregious in its defiance of the rule of law.

In April 2009, a police officer stopped Nicholas Heien’s car, allegedly over a faulty brake light, and during the course of the stop and subsequent search, found a sandwich bag’s worth of cocaine. In North Carolina, where the traffic stop took place, it’s not actually illegal to have only one working brake light. However, Heien—the owner of the vehicle—didn’t know that and allowed the search, which turned up drugs, and resulted in Heien’s arrest. When the legitimacy of the traffic stop was challenged in court, the arresting officer claimed ignorance and the courts deemed it a “reasonable mistake.”

I’m not sure which is worse: law enforcement officials who know nothing about the laws they have sworn to uphold, support and defend, or a constitutionally illiterate citizenry so clueless about their rights that they don’t even know when those rights are being violated.

This much I do know, however: going forward, it will be that much easier for police officers to write off misconduct as a “reasonable” mistake.

Understanding this, Justice Sotomayor, the Court’s lone dissenter, warned that the court’s ruling “means further eroding the Fourth Amendment’s protection of civil liberties in a context where that protection has already been worn down.” Sotomayor continues:

Giving officers license to effect seizures so long as they can attach to their reasonable view of the facts some reasonable legal interpretation (or misinterpretation) that suggests a law has been violated significantly expands this authority. One wonders how a citizen seeking to be law-abiding and to structure his or her behavior to avoid these invasive, frightening, and humiliating encounters could do so.

There’s no need to wonder, because there is no way to avoid these invasive, frightening, and humiliating encounters, not as long as the courts continue to excuse ignorance and sanction abuses on the part of the police.

Whether it’s police officers breaking through people’s front doors and shooting them dead in their homes or strip searching innocent motorists on the side of the road, these instances of abuse are continually validated by a judicial system that kowtows to virtually every police demand, no matter how unjust, no matter how in opposition to the Constitution.

Indeed, as I point out in my book A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State, the police and other government agents have, with the general blessing of the courts, already been given the authority to probe, poke, pinch, taser, search, seize, strip and generally manhandle anyone they see fit in almost any circumstance.

Just consider the Court’s pro-police state rulings in recent years:

In Plumhoff v. Rickard, the Court declared that police officers can use lethal force in car chases without fear of lawsuits. In Navarette v. California, the Court declared that police officers can stop cars based only on “anonymous” tips.  This ruling came on the heels of a ruling by the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals in U.S. v. Westhoven that driving too carefully, with a rigid posture, taking a scenic route, and having acne are sufficient reasons for a police officer to suspect you of doing something illegal, detain you, search your car, and arrest you—even if you’ve done nothing illegal to warrant the stop in the first place.

In Maryland v. King, a divided Court determined police can forcibly take your DNA, whether or not you’ve been convicted of a crime. The Supreme Court’s ruling in Arizona v. United States allows police to stop, search, question and profile citizens and non-citizens alike. And in an effort to make life easier for “overworked” jail officials, the Court ruled in Florence v. Burlington that police can subject Americans to virtual strip searches, no matter the “offense.”

In an 8-1 ruling in Kentucky v. King, the Supreme Court placed their trust in the discretion of police officers, rather than in the dictates of the Constitution, when they gave police greater leeway to break into homes without a warrant, even if it’s the wrong home. In Hiibel v. Sixth Judicial District Court of the State of Nevada, a majority of the high court agreed that it’s a crime to not identify yourself when a policeman asks your name.

And now we’ve got Heien v. North Carolina, which gives the police a green light to keep doing more of the same without fear of recrimination. Clearly, the present justices of the Supreme Court have forgotten that the Constitution, as Justice Douglas long ago recognized, “is not neutral. It was designed to take the government off the backs of people.”

Given the turbulence of our age—with its police overreach, military training drills on American soil, domestic surveillance, profit-driven prisons, asset forfeiture schemes, wrongful convictions, and corporate corruption—it’s not difficult to predict that this latest Supreme Court ruling will open the door to even greater police abuses.

We’ve got two choices: we can give up now and resign ourselves to a world in which police shootings, chokeholds, taserings, raids, thefts, and strip searches are written off as justifiable, reasonable or appropriate OR we can push back—nonviolently—against the police state and against all of the agencies, entities and individuals who march in lockstep with the police state.

As for those still deluded enough to believe they’re living the American dream—where the government represents the people, where the people are equal in the eyes of the law, where the courts are arbiters of justice, where the police are keepers of the peace, and where the law is applied equally as a means of protecting the rights of the people—it’s time to wake up.

We no longer have a representative government, a rule of law, or justice. Liberty has fallen to legalism. Freedom has fallen to fascism. Justice has become jaded, jaundiced and just plain unjust.

The dream has turned into a nightmare.

https://www.rutherford.org/publications_resources/john_whiteheads_commentary/ignorance_is_no_excuse_for_wrongdoing_unless_youre_a_cop

 

[Gizmo]

Same police problems everywhere. here a police shot a dog with an arrow for no reason luckily dog survived. but officer didnt get charged as it wasn't bad enough to count for criminal..