Police HarASSment

Mike, I don't know how much jail time you've had in your life to have such an opinion, but it is wrong ... 99 percent wrong.

Like motorcyclists, there are ~bad~ cops. Maybe one percent of them ... like the guys that give the decent motorcyclists a bad name.

I happen to be one of the many that are happy that Police are around ... and do the job the best they can. I certainly couldn't do it, not for the pay they recieve nor the attitude of folks like you.

Certain types of folks attract the "rough" treatment they get from cops. And for the most part, deserve it. Due North, I'm not sure if you are Canadian or a citizen of the US, however, when you are around cops wherever you are, just treat them with respect, and you won't get into trouble. Unless there is something about your occupation or lifestyle we don't know about.

 

There's an even better way. Do up a registered letter to the company explaining that you are willing to participate in their surveys, however your fee will be $500/survey. After they have received the letter, if they call again send them a bill. They won't pay - go to small claims court. There's actually an association for this that makes a pile of money every year.

 

Canadian, eh! I spend a whole lot of time in the US though. I even considered moving there.

As far as lifestyle goes, my lawyer says I can't comment as long as I'm, "...keep smoking your dope, burning your flags, protesting the government, and being that great contributor to your neighborhood..."

 

IMO, I have been blessed by the assistance of officers on many occasions. I have been blessed to have not ever had a bad situation with an officer, county sheriff or city police.

A Ga. HP officer stopped and changed my Moms tire back about a year ago. She told him that she had already called and my stepfather was on the way and would be there in 20 minutes. But he insisted on fixing it right then. He did not and would not just drive off and leave her on the side of Ga.400 waiting for help. I cannot say how much that meant to her.
ps - (and some of ya'll know her, and she says "Hi Ya'll!").

This is not the actions of every officer, but it is not a single clear-cut situation. I have been stopped for speeding excessively, and by being polite and remorseful I received the lighter of many choices of punishment, a simple "exceeding 55" ticket, not a reckless driving ticket.

You mileage may vary, but your attitude may help. And, I am realistic enough to state that attitude may not help at all in other cases.

I agree that officers can get jaded by working with scum all day, and this may lead to miscommunications with law abiding citizens. Keep in mind that they are human also, and that if you worked in doo-doo all day, you may have a biased response when approached. I too would get tired of dealing with crackheads and domestic fighting, and Buffy in her Beemer wants me to take shutting up her neighbors dog barking as a priority..? So she bitches about how much she pays in taxes and "we pay your salary" and that makes everything OK?

It all depends upon your perspective. Try thinking about how you might be if you were an officer. I can honestly admit that I am prejudice against some socio-economic groups, and I would probably be the kind of cop that you are complaining about. That is why I don't want to ever have to carry that load. I don't think that I could be impartial and objective.

 

Boy! It sounds like if it weren't for all of you upstanding "law abiding" citizens the police wouldn't have anything to do.

As for Mike Henery's comment: "PAC MAN, you might as well forget trying to defend the cops. They suck and everone knows it. I'm sure the Nazi's were just misunderstood too. My own personal experiences with the law have never been good. It's always guilty until proven innocent. I don't dial 911!"

You're an IDIOT! How ignorant can you be? I'd be interested in knowing about your personal experiences with the law. I bet you were guilty. Most people are. The police don't just pull people over for the hell of it. In fact they'd rather not pull people over because it adds more work.

To:PACMAN
Keep up the good work. There are a lot of people that apreciate what you and your fellow officers do. I'm one of them. Thanks.

 

Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

 

it used to be everytime ive been cought doing something wrong i would get so mad at the guy doing his job and stopping me from doing whatever it was. now it seems once i decided i was my biggest enemy, i've had very little trouble. still had some, like the guy who stopped me for doing 35 in the 40 and told me to keep it down. i was on a pink and yellow fzr, vance and hines edition race replica, pretty noticable bike if you've ever seen one you know. but for the most part i'm ok with the officers around here. of course many of them still remember me from high school, not good.

 

Amendment X

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.

 

I smell bacon! Oink Oink Oink!

Your Nazi brainwashing tactics won't work on me.

On a serious note, it's attitudes just like yours that make us wonder about the whole innocent until proven guilty thing.



[This message has been edited by wera122 (edited 07-20-2001).]

 

Thanks to all of you that realize that the other 99% of Police go out with nothing but good intentions, but year after year to get shit on not only by the crackheads and robbers, but by people above. We are not the best paid, we don't have the greatest work environment, we deal with what no one else wants to on a day to day basis. Nothing says thank you like a whiny motorist that finally gets one ticket, for all the times they got away without one, and for them to devote their sorry lives at trying to get revenge at Police everywhere. Everyone has a horror story about the Police. I promise you, for every one of you that has a horror story, 10 others have a great pro-police story. The difference is they write a nice letter or say thank you at the scene, why you try to spread hate discontent to the weak minded. Each time the story is told it get's more dramatic and hostile. Keep spicing it up! Everyone has the answer to what we should be doing, but nobody wants to come do it with us! Don't tell me, Come show me!

I don't defend cops everywhere. I have seen bad cops come and go. The media loves to show bad cops. Why is it that the never show the Police doing something good. Because it would take the whole news cast and you all don't give a shit about that. You want the dirt, and that's what they give you. I bet you think the media never lies, don't you?

Nothing burns me more than to have someone tell me we are all a bunch of criminals with badges. There's no such thing as a good cop! When you pull up to a house and find several little girls crying on the front porch screaming he's killing her, and having to kick a door in, not knowing what's on the other side, I wonder if I should start wondering is this one of those people that hate us! Should I leave them alone since they don't ever want the Police around! The funny part is I bet some of you are the ones standing on the front porch watching her get the shit kicked out of her in front of her children. I know you won't help. You would rather call the station and complain that the officer used foul language as he fought some junkie who was cracked out feeling no pain. But when you stick him in the back of a car a see kids scared to death latch on to their mother who they thought was getting ready to die, it becomes clear why we do this. Because no one else will! I was applauded one time after chasing a man with a gun through rush hour traffic after he had randomly fired shots. Who in their right man chases after a man randomly shooting a gun. As I walked him back to the car and people began to clap, it was one of the best moments I remember being a cop. Again, I didn't see any of you there to help.

I know I got way off the subject and made this personal, but all of you got out of line when you started lumping all of us together. Don't tell me I'm no different than a criminal. All 0f you that talk shit and have all the answers, there are departments everywhere trying to find good people to do this job that no one wants. Quit running your mouth, kiss your kids goodbye, come out and play with me. Show me your true colors! When the guy that tried to kill you and his family walks out of Jail before you complete your paperwork, don't get upset, that wouldn't be proper for Police now would it!

[This message has been edited by PACMAN (edited 07-20-2001).]

 

Roach said:

While it is true that the people define the laws and regulations in a democracy, this is not the case in the USA. By definition, we are a Republic, in which the People chose Representatives to lead. It's a subtle distinction, but an important one.

Also, a question for Ben.....why are you quoting random Amendments from our Constitution without placing them in any sort of context? I could quote the Bible, or Shakespeare, and it would make the same amount of sense.

 

I think Ben is trying to educate some of those that want to argue their rights, but really aren't sure what they are!

 

Well, to be blunt, if you don't like the job or the working conditions, find a new line of work.

My experiences with law enforcement have shown them to be pretty much useless if I have a problem. Their main function, as it appears to me, is revenue generation. There are hundreds, no thousands of unsolved murders in this country. The police cry that they are understaffed and overworked. Yet, there's never a shortage of cops to do traffic enforcement. And that function exists solely as a revenue stream, especially since it's a demonstrable fact that speed limits are set artificially low.
Is this a problem with cops, or the folks who're in charge of the cops? Probably the latter, but I really don't care. The bottom line is that the murderers are not caught but the speeding tickets still get written.

And of course, when those speeding tickets get written, it also comes along with being treated like a child molester by the officer. This same officer who then does 80+mph down the highway, weaving in and out of traffic, in his squad car (witnessed that one first-hand). Had I driven the way he did, I'd have been facing a reckless driving charge for sure. But it's OK for him, he's Johnny Law, so he's above the law.

Spare me the crapola about how random searches reveal drug trafficing. I don't care. One of the fundamental principles behind our legal system is that the ends do not justify the means and that it is not acceptable to violate someone's rights because of what they MIGHT have done.

And for the record, "people have the right to be left alone" is called paraphrasing. I could quote you the amendment verbatim, but someone beat me to it.

I could post details about how I proved, in court, that the last cop who wrote me a ticket blatantly lied on the ticket and falsified the whole thing, but what would be the point? I'm sure he was just one bad apple amongst the remaining honorable officers.

And given the cops demonstrably poor marksmanship when it comes to shooting at folks, I'll deal with the man in my house with a gun myself, thanks. The last time the cops shot at someone around here, they expended about 80 rounds for 5 hits. In the city. No mention was made where the other 75 rounds landed. If I did that, I'd be up on reckless endangerment charges so fast it wouldn't even be funny. And we won't even get into pumping 19 rounds (out of 41 fired) into an innocent man standing on his front porch in NYC. I'm sure he did something to deserve it. Probably "smoking dope or protesting the government" or something.

 

You have to be one of the most ignorant brain washed anti-social people I have ever spoke too. You need counseling. People like you don't need guns. You have a people to kill list on your wall don't you.

 

Offense charged
By offense charged, United States, 1998
Estimated number of arrests
165,100 Runaways
187,800 Curfew and loitering law violations
5,200 Suspicion (not included in total)
3,824,100 All other offenses (except traffic)
30,400 Vagrancy
696,100 Disorderly conduct
710,300 Drunkenness
630,400 Liquor laws
1,402,800 Driving under the influence
146,400 Offenses against family and children
12,800 Gambling
1,559,100 Drug abuse violations
93,600 Sex offenses (except forcible rape and prostitution)
94,000 Prostitution and commercialized vice
190,600 Weapons; carrying, possessing, etc.
300,200 Vandalism
137,900 Stolen property; buying, receiving, possessing
17,100 Embezzlement
394,600 Fraud
114,600 Forgery and counterfeiting
1,338,800 Other assaults
2,481,500 Total Crime Indexe
1,805,600 Property crimed
675,900 Violent crimec
17,200 Arson
150,700 Motor vehicle theft
1,307,100 Larceny-theft
330,700 Burglary
506,630 Aggravated assault
120,870 Robbery
31,070 Forcible rape
17,450 Murder and nonnegligent manslaughter
14,528,300 Totalb

these numbers EXCLUDE traffic offenses. This woudl make me believe they do ALOT more than you see or care to recognize.

==look at it this way==
Looking at the crimes stated above, if one of the happened to you, you would want someone to solve it.(ie Robbery) How many people and how much time would that take to do? Now think of how many happen and how long it will take to solve them. Open your eyes and look at the rest of the world around you and not just YOUR experiences.

There is a bigger picture here people.

Brandon

 

sorry,

above information taken from:
data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program.

B

 

Suspicion??? What kind of a crime is that ? ? ?

Could someone please arrest Tom for Supicion!!!! He said the other day he had suspecions. (I think they're in his pocket!!) Otherwise, they might be in his car - ask him for permission to search it!!

 

I think he makes some good points, 75 rounds unaccounted for??
I know that wasnt'you PAC, and you seem like a pretty level headed guy, but to see his observations as brainwashed...you are wearing blinders.

I have about 50 hours worth of tattooing on my body. I have had hair the colors of the rainbow, and grew up in the punk scene.

that made me a target

I spent years fighting for the little guy, helping the beaten wife (yes,even kicked in a few doors), pulling parents off their kids in malls even. 90% of the time i was escorted away from the situation in cuffs while the criminal was left to beat on thier wife, kid, etc. yeah, it pays to be the good guy!!!

the system is screwed up, and you guys are forced to enforce a faulty system. Rapists walk free, murders are let out to kill again, tax evaders are in resort style prisons, and the guy who had 20 hits of acid on him at a Grateful Dead concert is still serving his life sentence. saw that one on the news.

Take back the AMA!!!

 

This comment along with Ben's about most people probably being guilty anyway is a great affirmation that you're looking out for our constitutional rights.

Thanks for nothing.

 

it's a fancy word for probable cause.