NYPD Union Responds To Calls For Reform By Shaming The Homeless

Fed up with calls for more oversight of police, one of the New York City Police Department's biggest unions offered a response: Take pictures of homeless New Yorkers and post them on the Internet.

Sgt. Ed Mullins, president of the Sergeants Benevolent Association, outlined the new campaign -- called "Peek-A-Boo, We See You Too!" -- in a memo to members this week.

NYPD Union Responds To Calls For Reform By Shaming The Homeless

Seriously? Wow. What a creative idea. Why didn't we think of this sooner?!

NYPD cops fed up with vagrants making life miserable in the city are taking matters into their own hands — by snapping photos of quality-of-life scofflaws and posting them online.
The Sergeants Benevolent Association is spearheading the effort, emailing a letter to members Monday urging them and their families and friends to take pictures to document the decline of the city. [Source]

Yes, let's shame the homeless, many of whom are vets and ill people, many of them who could be any of us one day. Because, you know...nothing else seems to be working. I refuse to post any pictures because 1.) I'm not mean, 2.) I'm not a dumbass, and 3.) I don't agree that people who are already down and out need to be held up for contempt. But if seeing this kind of thing is what works for you, either for your own anger (which I readily admit I am feeling) or because it makes you feel better than someone else, you can see some of them at the sources quoted here and on their site.

A Flickr account operated by the union representing New York Police Department sergeants has spent the last week or so prolifically shaming the city’s most destitute residents. So far, the Sergeants Benevolent Association has posted 241 photos of homeless New Yorkers, some alongside “funny” captions about their subjects. [Source]

Encourages cops to do this when NOT on duty. Cuz it's, you know, illegal for them to take photos on duty. Yeah, let's not violate the law...but human decency? Sure.

And all this is response to some pending legislation they don't agree with. Simply idiotic. Makes a person proud to be American. Not.

a reply to: ~Lucidity
Cops get more lovable everyday.

a reply to: ugmold

I don't think it's the cops, just some of them, allegedly the leaders, who are playing politics or put up to this, which is a pretty serious damn issue in law enforcement, as it is in most places. Remember...they hate their mayor. At least some of them do.

The public should respond by taking pictures of the police's homes and posting them, along with the addresses and perhaps pictures of their family members. Never would the police make more of an effort to become more respected by the people as when they had peace of mind to gain from it.

a reply to: ~Lucidity

I agree. It's shameful. It pisses me off, too. Anyone can end up homeless. It doesn't take much to get there.

We should all email the NYPD and the SBA and tell them how lame they are. What a bunch of scumbags!

a reply to: ~Lucidity

Wow talk about poor form,elements of the police force are making themselves look bad and as a revenge they dehumanize the homeless some more because they can.....pretty sad...they may get a few bigots and haters on board but i suspect the majority of people will see this as pathetic and just plain nasty...

I would be curious as to what the police themselves as in the guys who have boots on the ground think of this .....

Aww, pretty sad. Because shaming them is somehow going to make them "go away" or be able to put themselves back into society. When in fact it's going to make their issues worse, whether it be mental health to having a safe place to stay without being hassled or restricted now that their potential chosen location-or for the time being- is being shared.

Absolutely despicable. Quality of life crimes - the newest buzzword of the msm. Yes, clearly the homeless have become beggars simply for fun. *smh*

Forbid one's view be sullied by human destitution...

It's plain to see why the building of for-profit prisons is ramping up - homelessness, the newest "crime".

Russell Brand gave some good exposure to this topic as well (although we already knew not to expect much from Fox):

a reply to: MoonBlossom

Cant say i am a big fan of Russel Brand but i like where he is coming from.....a statement he makes at near the end of the vid you put up struck a cord and it is a great description where he points out that the people that actually are raping the world move around unseen and the most vulnerable,the ones seen in the street are the targets of all this hate,the more vulnerable you are the more you will be denigrated......sad state of affairs

a reply to: hopenotfeariswhatweneed

Yep. And that kind of attitude is at the core or a lot of our issues...how we treat those less fortunate, unluckier than we are.

Just shows the mindset these types of people have.

It's amazing when the prerequisite to becoming a cop is to have a low IQ and act like you're still in middle school.

a reply to: ~Lucidity

Its amazing how many people have been brainwashed into believing the poor are at the core of the problems we face in this world....

I can't say I'm surprised. What a waste of time, surely there are more important things to do besides picking on the defenseless; easy pickens for them.

I especially thought it ironic how it describes the vagrants as contributing to the misery of the city; news flash bud, I happen to think it's the other way around. You must have forgotten your stop and frisk policies or the NYPD's broken windows policy; there's your misery pal, dumba**.

What a bunch of jerks.

a reply to: ~Lucidity

This quite literally makes me sick. Only a bully would pick the most destitute and powerless group in society and decide to do this to.

Police officers have become so vicious, so juvenile, so hateful....that they think this is a good idea? This comes from getting upset over calls for more accountability and oversight by the public....is this for real? (rhetorical)

I feel like I have stepped into the land of the surreal.

They are a complete disgrace to their profession....and sorry excuses for human beings.

Where are all the "good" cops I keep hearing about, but never see?

originally posted by: hopenotfeariswhatweneed
a reply to: ~Lucidity

Its amazing how many people have been brainwashed into believing the poor are at the core of the problems we face in this world....

Agreed. Amazing and very, very sad. The positives here are that not everyone feels this way and we can call the ones who do out.

a reply to: ~Lucidity

They need to find out what it's like. Who these people really are, behind their weathered faces and torn clothes they are just people, and often times more altruistic then the highest esteemed folks I've ever met.

a reply to: ~Lucidity

I say let them!! post away, we can use the pictures they take to emphasis just how badly this country is taking care of it's own!! maybe some people in the city can track down these people and get their stories firsthand and post them also.
let's let the country know who these homeless people are, where they came from, how many of them have higher education degrees.... I want to know their stories!!!

Most big cities have a homeless problem anyway. I just don't get the police the rationale here, or are they hoping someone will come and take all the homeless away.

And you know what? I bet most cops won't be participating in this.

MOST cops are good people that want to help out in their community.

My problem, as I've said over and over again is that the good cops never speak out against the few bad cops that exist in their ranks. If so many cops truly are good people, then they should outnumber the bad cops overwhelmingly -- this should make it easy for the good cops to ferret out the bad cops.

The thing is, they don't. The good cops never speak up about their crooked cohorts. The good cops never come forward and rally against those in their ranks giving them all a bad name.

Why is this?

The truth (I believe) is that the corruption is in the highest levels of law enforcement. Even if you have huge numbers of good cops, if the people at the top are bad -- you're not going to want to speak out.

And in my mind, not speaking up about the wrongs you see within your police department makes you almost as guilty as the people perpetrating the crimes against the community and its citizens. If you see something and don't say anything, you basically condone the action and show new police recruits that it's OK to turn a blind eye to abuse of power.