Law Enforcement

When I was a lad I wanted to be a cop more than anything in the world. I used to read books by Joesph Wambagh and other ex-police officers. I know a lot about cops and have had many friends that were and are cops. I became a salesman then a Firefighter instead because of my fathers disapproval of me becoming law enforcement. I am making this thread because I am a bit tired of everyone's mis-interpretation of whats going on with our LEO's.

Its because they are people, and people we are living in one insane ass world.

One of the number one questions asked of the front line guys by the sergeants and officers is "how are things at home?"

The reason being that to be a good and fair cop in the long run seeing the worst society has to offer when the best society has to offer lately isn't so hot they need and anchor...a strong family at home to keep from going off the deep end. Now days more than ever its getting harder for any cop to do the right thing or even keep from eating his/her weapon.

The world is getting REALLY flaky and we need to lighten up a bit on cops and have some empathy and solutions instead of all this blind hate.

Can anyone get behind this reasoning? Please try because in the end we need those fine people to STAND hard and fast on that thin blue line.

Every encounter an officer has with John Q public is a roll of the most deadly of dice.

John Q is becoming more dangerous by the day.

It seems that anyone lately that has one negative incident with a police officer has eternal hatred for them all. I've personally had only one negative encounter. But since I've had about 7 incidences with the police in my decades of existence and only the one bad incident happened, calling all policemen on the carpet for that one is ridiculous. He was, apparently, just a jerk. In my estimation, anyone that continuously has negative encounters with police might want to look inward for the reasons.

/TOA

Originally posted by LoneGunMan
Its because they are people, and people we are living in one insane ass world.

And boo hoo?

i wanna be a doctor, so I should cut people up because Im too thick to do it properly?

If you cannot do the job, DONT TRY.

Cops these days make me ill. All this 'I live in a mad world and Im only human" guff doesn't rub - you either piss or get off the pot.

Bleh, poor cops...

reply to post by The Old American


Sure, I've met cops who have not punched me or wielded their baton at me in the dark.... they all hold the same colour though, and if it helps to hush up a little mistake, oh they can be oh so silent.

No different between walking past a chapter of coffin cheaters, hey you play their game, everyone's sweet.

Don't ? expect it, and in all my decades i've witnessed a hell of a lot of rule breakers.

let me put this simply if you live in a small town the cops there are your friends and maybe even family.
they know most every one and when the people you police are your friends family and nabeirs then most likely you will be a benefit to your town.
problem is small towns have been dieing .
so lets move on to the city cops . every one they meet is here is a stranger to them just as if that person had just come here from china making it very easy to treat this person as less then another say his mom.
now I have NO police record and when i lived in that small town had no problems with the cops even when i was investigated once . they did there job professionally and with curtsy . I couldn't hold it against them THEY are required to investigate a clam of wrong doing it only took them ten mints to know i hadn't done what was claimed .
but when i moved to tallahassee fl (only 30 miles down the road and started having to deal with city cops that all changed.. I was Hit by a 17 year old (DID NOT even raise my hand in self defense) but the cops said ether drop the complainant or I would be arrested as well. then as i watched a drunk druged out 40 year old man swining a bat sized stick around trying to hit his 60 year old girl friend and called thous city cops then see them ARREST her.
and have seen the same kind of thing here time and again you can keep your cop pity party .
in a small town they arnt cops there friends or family but in the city they are nothing but THUGS who make up the laws as they go will ruin a life much faster then the criminals .
now you have a cop with a gun on you or you have a criminal with a gun on you what difference is there?
no the cops in the city scare MUCH worse then the criminals wile one out of a 1000 criminals will accutly harm me 5 out of ten COPS will as well and i see them MUCH more offton.
yea there is a lot of bad cops treads here because there are a LOT of bad cops at this point the bad cops out number the good cops 1000 to 1 O you may not get shot but after you louse your job home and family on trumped up charges maybe you will be back with a cop bashing thread as they well deserve.

o if that clame of wrong doing had happend in tallahasse i would have BEEN jailed no if ands or buts about it .
o i would have been relised after a day? or week? but jail is jailed they dont even attempt to sort if a crim haqs really been comited befor they arrest you in the city

reply to post by xxcalbier


Not trying to insult you but every computer has a spell checker on it and if you right click on the word that is highlighted or underlined depending on the software your using it will give you suggestions for fixing the spelling. It just makes reading the posts so much easier. Trust me I'm the worst speller there is!! And I hear what your saying as we have many of crooked cops where I live.

I was sitting here typing a reply & it ended up being a dozen paragraphs, so let me shrink it down to this:

Once Peace Officers became Law Enforcement Officers, they ceased being public servants of the people & instead became meter maids with guns. Their job now is not to "protect & serve". It is now to "fleece & enslave". It is to collect as much revenue from the public as possible & to fill the increasing number of for-profit prisons that are popping up all over the country.

We have more people in prison than any other country in the world & we have the highest ratio of incarceration in the world. World Prison Population List And we call this a free nation... HA!

reply to post by mal1970

Once Peace Officers became Law Enforcement Officers, they ceased being public servants of the people & instead became meter maids with guns. Their job now is not to "protect & serve". It is now to "fleece & enslave". It is to collect as much revenue from the public as possible & to fill the increasing number of for-profit prisons that are popping up all over the country. We have more people in prison than any other country in the world & we have the highest ratio of incarceration in the world. World Prison Population List And we call this a free nation... HA!

I am going to regret getting into this, but honestly, how many people that play by the rules, adhere to the laws, and are peace loving citizens, get harassed by LEO? I am retired from the Texas prison system, and trust me, most of the incarcerated are not there for singing off key in the church choir. Are there innocent people incarcerated? Yes. But the other side is we have some very stupid people incarcerated. If you or I, average John Q. Public, got placed on probation or parole, we would follow the rules to the letter. But, when you have some poor mistreated soul who has freeze dried his brain on meth or crack, KNOWS he should not associate with known criminals, cannot use illicit drugs, cannot be in possession of a firearm, and has had his license suspended, caught doing some or all of the things listed, and is pulled over by LEO, who is to blame? The cop wanting to fill up the prison system, or the idiot who violated the laws willingly?

I get frustrated with bad cops, but I get more frustrated with the criminal who defies the norms of society, and chooses to be a threat to my family, society, and that cop who has to pull him over in the middle of the night and deal with his stupid butt. There is no justification for LEO to exceed their authority, and there is no justification for the dregs of society who constantly put others lives at risk, including LEOs. Hatred of bad cops is not going to fix the problem. Getting involved in your community to help eradicate the problem, making sure your elected officials know bad cops will not be tolerated, and that they could be looking for a new job come election time, will start the ball rolling. Do bad cops cover other bad cops? Yes. Can it be fixed? If you spend your time doing something rather than bad mouthing ALL cops, and pursue the bad ones.

As for the stupid folks who keep our prison's full, well, sometimes you just can't fix stupid.

Originally posted by mal1970
I was sitting here typing a reply & it ended up being a dozen paragraphs, so let me shrink it down to this:

Once Peace Officers became Law Enforcement Officers, they ceased being public servants of the people & instead became meter maids with guns. Their job now is not to "protect & serve". It is now to "fleece & enslave". It is to collect as much revenue from the public as possible & to fill the increasing number of for-profit prisons that are popping up all over the country.

We have more people in prison than any other country in the world & we have the highest ratio of incarceration in the world. World Prison Population List And we call this a free nation... HA!

While I respect your opinion above I would like to point out something that people seem to not understand. In America, if you are given a citation, or arrested for whatever, you guys do understand its not Law Enforcement doing this right? If I pull someone over that leads into a drunk driving arrest, I arrest the person, book them into jail, and submit my report to the Prosecuting Attorney.

It is up to the Prosecuting Attorney if their office will continue with the charges - ALL CHARGES. Law Enforcement has nothing to do with Fine, Punishment, Incarceration etc. Law Enforcement does not even work in the same branch, being we work for the Executive portion, which is elected by the people, making us the peoples servants in this regard, entrusted to enforce the laws the people pass.

I have seen many threads here on ATS making baseless accusations against Law Enforcement from people who appear to be ignorant about what rights they actually have, and when they can exercise those while being lawfully detained.

Granted there are those Cops who make us look bad, but you are going to find that in any profession you are in. All it takes is one cop doing something absolutely stupid, and it makes the job harder for the rest of us.

If people have issues with Law Enforcement I would suggest when you criticise you also post why you have an issue with Law Enforcement. What occurred in your past that leads to the issue at hand? This will let us know who has the legitimate complaint, and those who just hate any type of authority period that tells them no, you cannot do this.

If you don't like the laws, then get involved and have them changed. Yelling at the sky because its raining will not change anything.

To the OP - Thank you for this thread. Its appreciated more than you may know.

Cops suck. Used to be one. Saw more criminals in the PD than out. And it just gets covered up. Most cops are the type of people that get their rocks off from having power. They are sociopaths that used to be picked on. No more cops are cops because of a sense of duty or community. My dept and the other local PD's covered up murders, rape, theft, drug use, alcoholism, abuse, and I saw tons of it first hand. It's sick. I hate cops.

reply to post by Redwookieaz

Cops suck. Used to be one. Saw more criminals in the PD than out. And it just gets covered up. Most cops are the type of people that get their rocks off from having power. They are sociopaths that used to be picked on. No more cops are cops because of a sense of duty or community. My dept and the other local PD's covered up murders, rape, theft, drug use, alcoholism, abuse, and I saw tons of it first hand. It's sick. I hate cops.

And when you reported these illegal actions, did it do any good? You DID report them didn't you? If not, you are part of the problem. If you did, you are part of the ultimate solution, and I applaud you.

reply to post by LoneGunMan


Hey there LGM,

You know what I've realized about cops, they read people pretty damn accurately.

When I get pulled over it doesnt matter if I end up in hand cuffs or pulled over for speeding.

I've never gotten a ticket, never gone to jail and they always treat me pretty damn good considering the circumstances and the fact that they are just following protocol otherwise they lose their jobs if they can't explain why they didnt follow the protocol.

I connect with the humanity in the officer instead of being angry at his unifom and as a result I am always treated as a fellow human being.

People who channel rage towards authority figures who are then punished need a wake up call.

Heres a Chris Rock video to sum it up nicely.

www.youtube.com...

reply to post by Redwookieaz

Cops suck. Used to be one.

No you didn't.

My dept and the other local PD's covered up murders, rape, theft, drug use, alcoholism, abuse, and I saw tons of it first hand.

You claim to be an ex-cop that was too morally straight to stomach the supposed crimes you claim you saw. Yet, you can comfortably sit here and tell all of us that you have witnessed it "first hand" as you clearly claim and, instead of doing something about it, you walked away.

What you are saying is sensationalized rhetoric that you know will be eaten up by the cop-haters like yourself and make you stand out like some folk hero for having such moral conviction that you could turn your back on the horrors you saw and walk away. But if you are so grounded in morals, how can you sit here while murderers in uniform continue to abuse the public in your "old department"? Surely if you were a righteous cop in your former career you would have the gumption to report these heinous crimes. I am a federal agent and I would be happy to look into such claims were they based in any sort of reality.

The truth is, you want to portray yourself as being one of the strong ones that was able to walk away from the power because you were better than that. All I see is someone looking to stir the pot and do a little rabble rousing by making un-verifiable and highly suspect claims. You are being part of the problem, not part of the solution.

I did take the liberty of going back and reading a few of your posts. Reading your take on mobile X-ray vans, I have to say, I feel very secure in my above read on where you are coming from. You clearly have zero real-world experience in law enforcement. The reason I am so agitated about this is that you are claiming to be something that you are not, which should be apparent to all of the real members of law enforcement that read your work. By claiming to have a background in law enforcement, you take that opportunity to spread your fear-mongering by being someone who was "on the other side" and has juicy info.

Please, stop.

reply to post by JWH44


Hmmm.. Possible he worked in Rampart at one point in history? j/k

Either or with his claims 42 USC comes to mind, to help jog his memory on whether he reported the crimes or not.

reply to post by Xcathdra


I think section 114 of 42 USC is most apt in this case.

reply to post by JWH44


Lol... Repealed from what I am seeing. I was thinking 1983.... Unless there is going to be some type of epidemic in the near future.

reply to post by LoneGunMan


hmm do their job and see how you go.
They are individuals with feelings.

Don't slag off the Cops, why? cos the first person you will call when you are in an emergency is them.

And the carp they have to deal with everyday would do your head in...

starting wage to put your ass on the line? = 30K a year. Terrible. If they were paid better that would reduce a lot of internal issues.

Would I put my ass on the line for you for 30K a year? No I wouldn't.

My life is worth more than that and so is theirs.