Wednesday, December 8, 2010

C.O.P.S. : Corrupt Officers "Protecting & Serving"

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[A Blog Bit Explaining Why I Generally Take A Dim View Of Police Officers.]
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Although it gets delivered to my workplace, not being a communist myself, I rarely read the free Phoenix New Times magazine.

The Phoenix New Times is essentially a Johnny-Two-Note rag, and if there was no Sheriff Joe Arpaio and if all illegal aliens were granted amnesty, the rag would have little reason to exist.

However, occasionally some New Times cover story will attract my attention and so I’ll pick up a copy and take a look. That’s what happened in June of 2009 when I saw the “Good Cop, Bad Cop” cover.

According to the story “Behind BadPhoenixCops.com: The Blogger Who Took On The Phoenix PD…” by Sarah Fenske [which you can read by clicking HERE], a Phoenix citizen named Jeff Pataky was wrongly and stupidly arrested by the Phoenix police department based on manufactured false evidence and bogus charges filed by his ex-wife. Later, when Pataky started a website and a blog to expose the corruption in the Phoenix P.D., his home was raided by the cops and his computer and some of his other belongings confiscated.

Making use of inside police sources, “Blogger Jeff” has since given Phoenix P.D. fits and his blog here at blogspot – BadPhoenixCops – is a site full of scoops and rancor, which I began “Following” shortly after reading that New Times article in the Summer of ’09. The blog bits and the comments attached to them are often filled with foul insults and schoolyard taunts, and it can get down and dirty between the “Anonymous” cops and the anti-police visitors who comment at the site.

No question about it, some very interesting pieces get posted at BadPhoenixCops, but one must be prepared for some of the nasty insults and dirty street humor found at the site. I myself have commented there a few times, but I prefer to stay out of the gutter.
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A November 12 article titled “Officer Chrisman's Partner - And His License Plate That Says SHOOT THEM ALL” drew more commentary from me than any previous blog bit at BadPhoenixCops (BPC). In short, the story pertains to an incident in which an off-duty officer was involved in a shooting and the questions raised by his personal license plate which says in code, “Shoot-M-All”. The entire article and the comments that it spawned can be read HERE.

In this case, I left the first comment at the site, in which I responded to something the Blogger had said in response to a sentence in a quoted article:

Author Alicia E. BarrĂ³n: “Police say the killing was justified because that suspect had a gun.”
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BPC: (Of course it was. Conveniently all shootings by cops are "justified" since the only ones investigating, are other cops..BPC)

Stephen T. McCarthy:
>>..."Of course it was. Conveniently all shootings by cops are "justified" since the only ones investigating, are other cops"..BPC
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You got that right!
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I have been saying for years that there ought to be a well-screened citizen panel in each community that has oversight when it comes to issues like police shootings and accusations of police brutality. Let the citizen panels conduct the investigations into these matters, after all, if the police departments are intended to "protect and serve" the community, then shouldn't representatives of the community be the persons who make the determination whether or not that is indeed what the police departments are doing?
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Why on earth would anyone want "family members" of the accused overseeing the investigation into charges of wrongdoing against one of their own? I think that only the most over-the-top and flagrant misdeeds are you ever likely to get a "guilty" judgment. And just as our political system takes the form of "representative government", so I believe that our community law enforcement system - particularly in cases of suspected wrongdoing by an officer - ought to include representative oversight.
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Frankly, I don't TRUST police officers to investigate their own and make judgments that are always right and fair to the community they supposedly serve. Well, to take it one step further, I just don't trust most police officers PERIOD!
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Three comments later, one of the many “Anonymous” (Anon) posters there - most of whom can usually be assumed to be police officers - wrote:

>>...If all cops are so terrible and corrupt why do rush to call them everytime you feel your safety is in jeapordy?
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To which I replied:

Having experienced first-hand the "Rodney King Riots" in Los Angeles, I got a fine look at what good the cops are to the citizenry when things get REALLY dicey or dangerous. Yeah, I saw how they just freakin' DISAPPEARED from the streets of Los Angeles and left those they supposedly "serve and protect" to fend for themselves.
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Oh, the boys 'n' girls in blue knew exactly where the major problems were occurring - even down to the very streets and intersections - because the news media was covering this huge story from helicopters, etc. There were lots of looters and lots of victims and lots of intended victims to be seen in the streets. What you saw very, very few of, however, were cops!
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Flash-forward a year and a half later, and there I am, pulled over by a cop - I assume due to my out-of-state Arizona license plate and something about it that aroused the cop's curiosity, although he didn't tell me WHY he had pulled me over.
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He left me parked and sitting there for at least 15 minutes while he watched the traffic go by, apparently hoping to see another AZ. license plate to make some sort of comparison.
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Finally, he gives my driver's license back, doesn't apologize for totally wasting my time, still doesn't tell me WHY he had pulled me over in the first place, and says very curtly before walking back to his police car, "If you're going to be here for more than a week, get a California driver's license and plate.
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Oh, yeah, he was A REAL TOUGH COP... NOW! But I'll bet dollars to donuts (Ha!) that a year and a half earlier, when the maroons were rioting in the streets, this same tough cop was hiding at the station with all his buddies on the force until the streets were safe again.
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I'm not going to paint ALL cops with this same brush, but I've known plenty of police officers on a personal basis and haven't liked most of them. And, yeah, I agree with Anon. Screw 'em! I'm armed and I'll take care of myself, thank you very much. I won't be calling the cops - they can "serve and protect" someone else.
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Five comments later, another Anon wrote:
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One thing the public needs to remember about police officers is that they are simply men and women doing a job that most of you would never want to or have the guts to do. They are human beings earning a living. First and foremost, they are people doing a JOB! They are brother, sister, mother, father, aunt, uncle, son, daughter, friend... I think that the public forgets that police officers are people doing tough jobs. I am not saying there aren't some stupid and obnoxious officers out there, but why paint a brush of all of them being bad? They aren't all bad people!

As far as the person going on about the officers in LA not being around during the riots, what would you have them do? Put out officers in a mob of 100's of people who were angry about cops? Which by the way, they took their anger out on each other by looting and rioting. Remember that these officers have families that THEY want to go home to. Do you really think putting two officers in the middle of hundreds of looting, rioting animals would have done anything to stop the rioting? Do you think possibly it would have made an already horrible situation worse? By that I mean, the animals rioting would have turned around and gone after the officers and killed them. So what purpose would that have served? Why so the department could have said, they were brave? Not worth it! Sometimes it's just not worth it.

The thing about some of you posters is you have forgotten that officers are people doing a job! I bet you wouldn't do that job. Would you have our country get rid of police departments? Do you think we could police ourselves? What happens on the roadways when police aren't around? We see a lot of speeding, red light running, etc. The fact is you get bad apples in every job and there is no way around that. Fortunately in most jobs we don't generalize about everyone because of the few morons!
November 19, 2010 3:28 PM
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I submitted an extensive response to that comment which, as of this moment, has not been posted at BadPhoenixCops. So I am pasting it here, on my own blog:

To: ANONYMOUS of November 19, 2010; 3:28 PM ~

It’s unfortunate that so many individuals here use the name “Anonymous” as it’s difficult to get a grasp on how many different persons are actually commenting here. It would be better if everyone would at least come up with a pseudonym and stick with it.

Anyway, I don’t know if you are responsible for any of the other “Anonymous” comments posted here, but you responded to my comment in a very civil and reasonable way. I appreciate that and will reply in kind. It is never my choice to stoop to the ad hominem level. I am capable of it, and more than a little effective at it, but I prefer to discuss serious matters in serious and logical ways. “Flame Wars” accomplish nothing and are always a waste of every particpant’s time.

So, thanks for keeping your remarks toward me mostly “adult-like”. I will treat you with the same sort of respect.

I agree with a fair portion of what you wrote. Yes, in many instances, cops can and should be viewed as just men and women doing their jobs. (Of course, there are some compelling reasons to believe that women ought to be employed in police departments solely in Special Assignment Units for the purpose of frisking and booking female suspects or dealing with female victims of crimes such as rape, etc. But that is well beyond the scope of this comment and beyond the time I’m willing to spend on the topic of police officers.)

Due to my background as a young man and the nature of the work I do as an adult, I have had greater dealings with police officers than has the average citizen, and I have over the course of my 50+ years gained some knowledge about the personality type and the mentality of a significant number of police department employees.

You wrote: “I think that the public forgets that police officers are people doing tough jobs. I am not saying there aren't some stupid and obnoxious officers out there, but why paint a brush of all of them being bad? … The fact is you get bad apples in every job and there is no way around that. Fortunately in most jobs we don't generalize about everyone because of the few morons!”

In the first place, I specifically wrote in my second comment above: “I'm not going to paint ALL cops with this same brush, but I've known plenty of police officers on a personal basis and haven't liked most of them.”

To that I will add that of all the police officers I have known in my life (and we’re talking about at least a dozen), there are only two that I can say I genuinely liked, whom I felt were not egotists, thrill-seekers, power-mad authoritarians, racists, or just general jackasses. Two out of twelve is not a good batting average!

Secondly, when it comes to police officers as a group, my experience has shown me that we are definitely talking about more than just a “few” morons or bad apples. I’m not even going to say that the majority of officers on most police forces are bad apples, but at the very least, I believe a very significant number of them are the sorts of persons I would not be interested in maintaining a friendship with.

I also happen to be an avid fan of American West history and have studied that subject from multiple angles. Even a person’s cursory study of Law Enforcement in the Old West will prove that there was always a fine line between the mind-set of the peace officers and the badmen they pursued, and often enough that line was virtually indistinguishable. While background checks in hiring police officers has certainly improved over the last century, I don’t believe that the standard police officer psychology has changed all that much. And I am convinced that most individuals who go into police work go into it not because of a passion for justice and righteousness, but because it’s a job that pays pretty well, has good benefits, has room for advancement, and provides opportunities for a thrill-seeker to get his or her kicks.

Remember, I’ve known plenty of police officers in a personal and casual way, and several quite well, and if you tell me that most cops don’t like the idea of high-speed pursuits and kicking doors in, we both know you’re not being honest with me.

One retired Phoenix law enforcement officer (whose name might be familiar to several of the “Anons” who regularly post comments on this blog), once told me that he thought I would have made a very good cop and asked me if I had ever considered that as a career. I told him that in fact I did briefly flirt with the idea as a teenager, but decided that I didn’t possess the hypocrisy necessary to be a cop. He just nodded knowingly. And this is one of the two aforementioned cops that I HAVE LIKED personally!

What hypocrisy? Well, for starters, lets talk about cops who, while off-duty, routinely disregard the traffic laws that they bust others for breaking while they’re on-duty. Let’s talk about Joe Cop being absolutely sh!t-faced three hours after a shift has ended and then leaving “The Big Dog Bar” and driving home as intoxicated, or more so, than the citizen whom Joe Cop arrested for drunken driving only some hours earlier!

It’s curious how many of the laws that get enforced during the day get broken by the enforcers in the night.

Also, there’s a very pronounced “Us Against Them” attitude that is prevalent on most if not all police forces. And by “Them” I don’t just mean the criminal element. Cops are very, very cliquish, some evidently believing that they are a higher sort of being than the everyday citizen they (presumably) “protect and serve”. For many of them, the outlook is “Us” (police officers) against “Them” (the civvies – including the law-abiding civilians). In fact, most cops have pet terms for the average citizen, some of the terms being somewhat demeaning.

You wrote: “As far as the person going on about the officers in LA not being around during the riots, what would you have them do? Put out officers in a mob of 100's of people who were angry about cops? … Remember that these officers have families that THEY want to go home to. … Do you think possibly it would have made an already horrible situation worse? By that I mean, the animals rioting would have turned around and gone after the officers and killed them. So what purpose would that have served? Why so the department could have said, they were brave? Not worth it!”

I essentially agree with you. I don’t believe that the cops could have quelled the majority of the rioting, but they failed to show up even where there were small pockets of rioters, where the police could have actually had a positive impact. I was living there, so I know what I’m talking about.

But even for that I’ll give them a pass. But here’s what pisses me off: If the cops are going to abandon those they claim to protect and serve, then they need to drop the whole friggin’ “tough guy” and “tough chick” routine. Give it a damn rest! We have SEEN that you won’t be there when the going gets really tough, so cut the crap and the macho persona that goes with it! Shave the mustache! (Yeah, that goes for you Chicks-In-Blue, too! Shave ‘em!)

And let’s not too hastily forget that the reason the idiot “civvies” were rioting in the streets of Los Angeles in the first place is because the police department (as happens far too often) wasn’t just satisfied with arresting Rodney King and bringing him before the judicial system. No! The police wanted to play cop, judge, jury and executioner all in one. (They’re only being paid to play ONE of those parts!)

Although the rioting was illogical, it was a direct result of cops acting like the thug they were arresting! So, the bottom line is: the cops ran and hid and abandoned the innocent citizenry they’re sworn to “protect and serve” when the rioting - which the cops were largely though indirectly responsible for - began.

The truth of the matter is (as shown every two weeks in the “Exercising The Right” Second Amendment feature of The New American magazine) that when citizens most need a cop, chances are a cop will arrive too late. (Or as the saying goes: “When every second counts, the police are only minutes away.”) The people had better take advantage of their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms and learn to protect themselves, because more times than not, a police officer will be on the scene after the fact and merely to write a report.

I will not forget the time I was driving in the number one lane of a two-lane road in L.A. when a motorcycle cop suddenly swerved into my lane without looking, nearly hitting the front passenger side fender of my truck. And then, after freaking out over the near accident he would have been responsible for, he pulled me over and cited ME for reckless driving.

Nor will I forget the time, maybe a little over a year ago, when about 100+ motorcycle gang members conducting a funeral procession for one of their dead buddies, commandeered a couple of the avenues here in Phoenix. These were major thoroughfares that are ordinarily cop-infested. Funny thing though – I drove for over a mile and never saw a police car in sight while that motorcycle gang had completely taken over the number 2 lane of the avenue.

I feel certain that any number of persons must have placed cell phone calls to the police informing them of the avenue takeover. But I sure didn’t see any cops responding to the situation. It was sort of like the Rodney King riots all over again, only this time in Phoenix. And once again we see that when things get REAL dicey, the cops go missing.

You began your comment with this:
“One thing the public needs to remember about police officers is that they are simply men and women doing a job that most of you would never want to or have the guts to do.”

That appeared to be a general remark, not directed specifically at me, but it is evidence of that aforementioned “Us Against Them, Tough-Guy Persona” that I told you I dislike so much and find so inappropriate.

Not to make myself out to be a Mr. Tough-Guy too, but just to respond to your opening remark, I will let you know that although the motorcycle gang was occupying only the #2 lane of the avenue and riding slowly, every automobile driver on that street was afraid to drive in the #1 lane alongside that motorcycle gang. Every single driver except one that is: Yours Truly.

I figured that as a taxpayer I had every right to occupy the empty lane on that road, and so I drove in the #1 lane, right past the motorcyclists. But I drove slowly in case one of them should suddenly decide to change lanes right on top of me, like that motorcycle cop had done to me years earlier (and cited me for).

When we got to a major intersection, one of the motorcyclists parked his bike in the middle of the road, and began directing traffic. To hell with what the traffic signal said, he stopped all traffic so the 100 or more motorcyclists could negotiate a right turn together without being delayed by the stop light and separated by other motorists.

No cops directing traffic, just a dirty motorcycle dude, who flipped me off as I ignored his hand signal to “stop” and drove right on by him.

As to whether or not I have “the guts” to be a cop, I’ll let you decide. But what I do know is that I had the guts to be in the presence of that motorcycle gang, completely unarmed, and to ignore them when they attempted to commandeer the streets and illegally direct me in traffic. The armed cops you seem to think are so “gutsy”, I didn’t see anywhere.

The Phoenix Cops: They are who we thought they were!

Yeah, I suspect I have “the guts” to be a cop. It’s the hypocrisy necessary to fit in with the Clique-In-Blue that I lack.

In the mid-1970s when I was 14 and 15, I belonged to a Police Explorer Program in another state. It’s a branch of the Boy Scouts but related to law enforcement work. Many police departments sponsor Police Explorer posts, with police officers volunteering to serve as advisors to the teenaged groups. That’s where I first became acquainted with police work and got to know a number of cops on a personal basis. It’s also where I first started my underage alcohol consumption and viewed hardcore pornographic movies. Yeah, our police officer advisors provided the beer and the porno movies on our many “camp-outs”.

Now, I will admit that I wasn’t objecting to these things at that time. But nevertheless, let those who think that all of the persons who get into police work do so because they have a high regard for our laws and societal mores and want to see law-breakers brought to justice, let them think about this some. I do not believe that my experiences in the Police Explorer Program were unique. So much for the righteousness of “law-loving” cops.

You wrote:
“Would you have our country get rid of police departments? Do you think we could police ourselves? What happens on the roadways when police aren't around? We see a lot of speeding, red light running, etc.”

I consider police departments to be a necessary evil. But I also believe there are probably better ways to organize police work. There’s no point in my expounding on this as things aren’t going to change no matter how well thought-out my views might be. I have never said that all police departments ought to be disbanded (it’s a nice little fantasy though).
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Truth be told, police departments are more about generating revenue for cities, counties and states, than they are about crime prevention. To be honest, speeding and red light running don’t much bother me unless those things are responsible for causing a very specific accident or problem. Although I myself don’t run red lights, if it’s 11 PM (or even 11 AM for that matter) and there’s no traffic that would be adversely affected by it, I would have no problem with a person driving through a red light.

If I’m on some road and someone blows past me exceeding the speed limit, so what?! Unless that person drives faster than he or she can safely operate their car and causes an accident, as far as I’m concerned, no “authentic” crime has actually been committed. Let’s be forthright with each other, unless damage or inconvenience to another results from an action, what we’re really talking about here is sneaky methods of further “taxing” the citizen to pay for some overly inflated bureaucratic budget.

Frankly, one of the problems I have with the police is their excessive regard for the letter of the law while not sufficiently appreciating the spirit of the law which the letter of the law was created to merely support.

If you’re at all interested in getting a better overall impression of how I view law enforcement, read
“FINALLY FOUND! A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER I RESPECT” .

In the above article, Sheriff Richard Mack is quoted as saying:
“I was… a by-the-numbers jerk.… We had to write tickets and lots of them. ... Is law enforcement really about public service, or public harassment?”

In another place in the above article it states:

[Sheriff Richard Mack’s] soul searching, combined with years of research, led him to the following conclusion: “I am now totally convinced that the ‘Drug War’ is a farce. It provides no benefit to the public and actually makes the drug problem worse.” This personal epiphany didn’t just stop at the issue of drug prohibition but also extended to the entire method of using law enforcement as a revenue-raising tool for government. “I got fed up with the numbers game in law enforcement and with the idea that we, the police, were here to force people to wear their seat belts and to have their papers [license, registration, insurance, inspection, etc.] in order before they could freely go about their lives.”

Anonymous, in closing I will tell you that I am a basically law-abiding citizen. The only things I am guilty of are, consistently driving about 7 miles an hour over the speed limits, and I rarely wear my automobile seat belt.

But when law-abiding citizens such as myself (and many, many others just like me) generally dislike police officers, it’s well past time that cops took a good, hard, honest, introspective look at themselves and asked why they have such a public relations image problem with so many of the law-abiding citizens they have sworn to protect and serve.

If more law enforcement officers would reevaluate what they are doing and why they are doing it, and then adjusted their actions and their views of proper law enforcement to be more in line with that of former Sheriff Richard Mack, I am certain that my own views and judgments about cops would also change for the better accordingly.

~ D-FensDogg
‘Loyal American Underground’


And that, my two readers, gives you a good idea why anti-police remarks occasionally pop up on this blog as well as my other blog, ‘Stuffs’.
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LINKS:

The Rodney King Beating
[Had this not been videotaped, the Thugs-With-Stinking-Badges would have gotten away with it. And some still did.]

John McKenna And His Friendly Neighborhood Cops
[Had this not been videotaped, the Thugs-With-Stinking-Badges would have gotten away with it.]

Critical Mass Bicyclist Assaulted By Cop
[Had this not been videotaped, the Thug-With-A-Stinking-Badge would have gotten away with it.]

Cop Assaults New Jersey Man For Standing On A Street Corner
[Had this not been videotaped, the Thug-With-A-Stinking-Badge would have gotten away with it. Actually, for all I know, he may have.]

Racist Cop Kicks Innocent Man In The Head. Officeress Joins In.
[And it goes on and on and on…]

Now ask yourself, how much of this crap do you suppose goes on that never gets caught on videotape?

YE OLDE COMMENT POLICY: All comments, pro and con, are welcome. However, ad hominem attacks and disrespectful epithets will not be tolerated (read: "posted"). After all, this isn’t Amazon.com, so I don’t have to put up with that kind of bovine excrement.
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19 comments:

  1. STM,

    I have had very little interaction with the local police in my town but my brother-in law spent several years working as a prison guard. Many of the "slip and fall" reports fabricated by some of those goons would have made Hitchcock proud. I'm sure it's not an easy job, but it's like letting the match guard the dynamite.

    BTW, that tour of Las Vegas on your other blog was terrific.

    ~Sig

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great blog bit brother. interesting when you said,

    "I also happen to be an avid fan of American West history and have studied that subject from multiple angles. Even a person’s cursory study of Law Enforcement in the Old West will prove that there was always a fine line between the mind-set of the peace officers and the badmen they pursued, and often enough that line was virtually indistinguishable. While background checks in hiring police officers has certainly improved over the last century, I don’t believe that the standard police officer psychology has changed all that much. And I am convinced that most individuals who go into police work go into it not because of a passion for justice and righteousness, but because it’s a job that pays pretty well, has good benefits, has room for advancement, and provides opportunities for a thrill-seeker to get his or her kicks."

    See I used to study criminal justice in school. Ah, the days before I went into nursing. Interesting tid bit I learned was that most cops and criminals profile the same. All it takes is about five years on the job. This happens potentially faster for those working in corrections. I used to be in a band with a corrections officer for a local county. I figured, finally another clean and sober person like myself. NOPE!! This women did the magic mushrooms, LSD, and just about every other illegal drug on the market. This was over eight years ago, so who knows what she's doing now. Funny thing is I always thought it was odd that she was ruling over drug offenders when she herself was one.

    Br'er Marc

    ReplyDelete
  3. Part 1."[A Blog Bit Explaining Why I Generally Take A Dim View Of Police Officers.]"

    So I'm not the only one. Good. I had a close net friend for several years, a professional philosopher, who had a lot of family members who were policemen, and he said the things that they say and do in private are a LOT different than the "Officer Friendly" image, and would curl your hair. In fact, they themselves would assert that the only difference between themselves and vicious gangs was a badge.

    Now my grandfather (who I lived with most of my life, until I was 37 - it was a duplex and we had half the bottom) was good buddies with the local police force, and weren't they corrupt??? Oh my, they were featured on 60 Minutes for corruption, let's just say that. So when a bunch of them went to bust up a party on my street and just happened to double-rape the girl whose apartment it was in, the cops all closed ranks around the rapists and protected them. Except for one, who testified against them and got them prosecuted fully. My grandfather's reaction? "She was asking for it." (Literally those words.) "If blank hadn't turned state's evidence this would never have happened; he's a traitor."

    So when he was dying, one of his corrupt cop friends managed to get him to sign over financial power of attorney to handle his business while he was sick (and he's done this 7 times before with the help of a disbarred lawyer, his Notary wife, and his lawyer son, which is why he owns seven houses and is a slumlord) and my mother refused to exercise her rights as next of kin over the medical decisions, and I hadn't the legal standing she did, (and I was dying myself) so was forced to watch the man die and watch the home that had been in my family for 4 generations pass fully into the hands of this psychopath grifter (he uses his pretty nurse wife to lure in the old sick people with her "care") with the use of a fake and hastily done up will that was signed while the man could not see and was on life support. The signature page was conveniently separate from the one-page insane document he called the new will. The witnesses were out of state people brought in from visiting in the next hospital room. The power was the wife notary of the disbarred lawyer.

    ReplyDelete
  4. [NOTE: I received the following via Email from ANNIEE451. She said that she was having problems getting the remainder of her comment to post and asked if I might try to complete it for her.]

    Part 2:
    I knew what my grandfather's intentions were and I have a copy of his real will (which my mother has the SIGNED copy of but didn't bother to freaking probate and left everything to her).

    Now we're talking at least a 500K estate here. At least. The cash was all gone into the pockets/bank of the cop by then, but the estate was highly valuable. I spoke to many lawyers who told me they knew this man and the lawyer and their activities - that they were grifters who would befriend lonely, sick old people and take their estates.

    I was absolutely powerless to do anything. Since I had fought with this monster psychopath bully, he left me out of the will entirely. He left the estate between himself, his wife, and my mother with himself as executor. She had to go to court to get anything at all. But it was her f***ing fault anyway.

    I must say I had lengthy conversations with many good lawyers for free; they were quite generous in offering me all this information on these activities.

    The only satisfaction is three small details (which we hear he still can't get over to this day) - that we left the place an absolute shambles.

    That we fixed the heat deep inside the wall so that it was on full blast and would never turn off until someone found out what was wrong.

    And that I took my kitchen sink. The literal kitchen sink. I wanted that sink; it was mine. So you can't say I took everything but the kitchen sink. He loves to talk about the sink being gone when he finally got in there.

    So we stuck it to him at least a little.

    God was amazingly gracious in granting us an opportunity to buy my husband's childhood home from his mom, and we'd never dreamed of owning our own, and the timing was absolutely Providential. So I can't complain. But it's a bitter pill to swallow. Even though the place was hardly home without grandma anymore anyway.

    And this isn't my only adventure with crooked or just insane policemen. The place we moved to when we had to leave my house behind (the one I'd lived in for 37 years) has a force almost as bad. And I won't go into the further adventures now, but uh...f*** cops.

    ReplyDelete
  5. SIG ~
    Oh, I read you loud and clear. As Maxwell Smart might say: "It's the old slip and fall trick."

    Yeah, isn't it odd how clumsy some suspects seem to get when in the presence of police officers?

    While I was looking through some YouTube videos to determine which ones I should include links to (other than 'The Rodney King Beating', of course, because that one was a given!), I came across one where this young, intoxicated woman was already in custody at the police department.

    Now, granted, she was drunk and being a bit uncooperative, but still, she was hardly unruly and out of control.

    Next thing you know, the cop turns off the security camera, and the next time we see her, she's lying on the floor in a pool of her blood. Then the news channel shows us a photo of her face, and she clearly has been beaten to a pulp.

    The officer's (and the department's) explanation? She fell. BULLSHIT!!! No one could fall and sustain that many severe injuries to their face. If those facial injuries were the result of falling, then she fell about 50 freakin' times!

    The only reason I didn't include a link to that particular video is because I wanted to stick with ones where we literally SEE the police brutality occurring.

    -->...BTW, that tour of Las Vegas on your other blog was terrific.

    Ha! Hey, thank you very much! What's funny is that I've already forgotten almost everything in that blog bit. I remember the part where I paid a man to NOT shine my boots. And I had some encounter with an Elvis impersonator. And I showed photos of the cheesy chapel where my parents were married.

    Other than those three things, I can scarcely remember anything else I wrote. And yet I do recall that the blog bit had 3 or 4 parts to it! Can't imagine now what else I had to say.

    I think I tend to post at 'Stuffs' and then immediately forget it because 'Stuffs' is Fluffs. The things I post here at 'Fascist Friends' I tend to retain in my mind better because I consider it usually so much more meaningful.

    Thanks for you comment, Sig!


    BR'ER MARC ~
    Oh, yeah, Bro, that whole psychological comparison between cops and criminals... I've seen it alluded to many times. Based on my experiences with cops, and the experiences of plenty of persons I have known, I'm inclined to suspect there is some real merit to the comparison.

    -->...Funny thing is I always thought it was odd that she was ruling over drug offenders when she herself was one.

    Yep. It's that ol' "Hypocrisy Rising" thang all over again! It sure seems to be commonplace.

    ~ D-FensDogg
    'Loyal American Underground'

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  6. ANNIEE451 ~
    Hey, thanks for your GREAT, great comment!
    :o)

    I hear you, Sister! And believe me, I didn't come near to exhausting my "Bad Cop" stories in this blog bit. I could have added a few more of my own before even getting started on some of the "Bad Cop" stories of people I have known.

    I will say it again, that I don't lump ALL cops together. I try to avoid practicing "Group Think" in any form. HOWEVER... there are just TOO MANY stories and TOO MANY law-abiding citizens who actively dislike most cops (I have personally known plenty of such persons) for the reasonable individual to conclude that "most" cops are OK. Sorry. Can't buy that one.

    -->...So when a bunch of them went to bust up a party on my street and just happened to double-rape the girl whose apartment it was in, the cops all closed ranks around the rapists and protected them.

    It's often referred to as "The Code Of Silence". And it means that a cop will protect another cop at all costs. C-3: Cops cover cops.

    There's a joke I like that goes: "Ninety-nine percent of lawyers give the rest a bad name."

    Now, I won't say that the percentages are the same when it comes to police officers, but I will say that I think the "majority" of them are A-List jerks.

    Thanks for the extensive comment, my friend! It's appreciated.

    ~ D-FensDogg
    'Loyal American Underground'

    ReplyDelete
  7. It's a complex issue that isn't totally one side or the other. I would rather live in L.A. with a police force than not, but I am happy when they keep their distance from me--I ain't doin' nothing wrong.

    I agree that it's just people doing their jobs and like clergy, fast food employees, store clerks, and professional people some are good and some are absolute jerks. You just can't paint them all with the same brush and same buckets of paint.

    I also agree that the primary function of cops is for producing revenue for the cities, which does encourage bad behavior and unnecessary police presence in our lives. Some change is in order, but I wouldn't look too hard for it.

    And Rodney King and a lot of the guys that have cried police brutality are jerks. King has certainly proved his worthlessness since collecting our tax dollars for his stupid settlement. If all the creeps out there would behave I think cops would be more in check.

    I could certainly go on about this, but I won't.

    Lee
    Tossing It Out

    ReplyDelete
  8. McCopKiller-

    I do think there are a lot of good cops out there. However there are also a lot of bad. My guess at the percentage? 50/50?

    You forgot the guy in NYC who was reaching for his wallet and got shot 41 times, spawning a Springsteen song.

    "It ain't no secret my friend
    You can get killed just for livin'
    In your American skin"

    Sadly, I think it's hard even for the good ones to hold that job for an adult life and not get tainted by all the crap.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous, in closing I will tell you that I am a basically law-abiding citizen. The only things I am guilty of are, consistently driving about 7 miles an hour over the speed limits, and I rarely wear my automobile seat belt.

    ReplyDelete
  10. ARLEE BOID ~
    Well, Brother, I don't think you said anything that I hadn't already expressed within this blog bit.

    I will add, however, that in order to install a police state one must first install a lot of police officers. And in my opinion, we already have TOO MANY police officers. This is proven to me every time I pass a cop sitting on his ass in his cruiser on a side street and pointing a radar gun at the passing traffic. I don't want one more penny extracted from my pocket to go to pay for one more cop to utilize a radar gun to extract one more penny in "taxes" from us! This situation is out of control already.

    As I said, I will not paint all cops with the same brush and I consider police departments to be a necessary evil. But whereas you say "I would rather live in L.A. with a police force than not", I say that I would rather live amongst a consistently well armed citizenry than rely on cops to protect the people from a few criminals.

    A bank filled with law-abiding customers carrying side arms is more secure than a bank where only the robber is armed and the police are six blocks away at the donut shop.

    Probably the single most significant reason that "The Wild West" was far less wild and lawless than contemporary American society is, is that most of the men (and some of the women) carried firearms routinely. A well armed society is a polite (and primarily lawful) society. [See the excellent book "GUNFIGHTERS, HIGHWAYMEN & VIGILANTES: Violence On The Frontier" by Roger D. McGrath. It dispels a lot of myths about the "Wild" West.]


    DISCCONNECTED ~
    In my blog bit, I wrote that "I’m not even going to say that the majority of officers on most police forces are bad apples", and later in this comment section I wrote "Now, I won't say that the percentages are the same when it comes to police officers, but I will say that I think the 'majority' of them are A-List jerks."

    What percentage are "bad apples" (i.e., lawbreakers and thugs) and what percentage are merely A-List jerks (i.e., dudes and dudettes with attitude problems, though not necessarily lawbreakers)?

    I really can't say about the former, but my own experiences have shown that in the latter, its the majority. Am I talking 51%? 60%? 75%? 90%? I don't know. But since I have only personally liked two of perhaps twelve police officers I've known fairly well, I'll just say it's a "significant percentage" and leave it at that.

    You wrote: "Sadly, I think it's hard even for the good ones to hold that job for an adult life and not get tainted by all the crap."

    Yeah, that's probably true, Bro.

    ~ D-FensDogg
    'Loyal American Underground'

    ReplyDelete
  11. RASHID-1891 ~
    I'm not sure what point you were trying to make by simply quoting me. Are you implying that I am not "law-abiding" since I owned up to the fact that I consistenly exceed speed limits by 7 mph and rarely wear my seat belts?

    If so, please note that I wrote I am "a basically law-abiding citizen". I choose my words pretty darn carefully when I write, and the word "basically" is a qualifier that acknowledges by my own honest confession that I am not a "totally" law-abiding citizen.

    But I will also point out, again, that I personally don't believe that exceeding a speed limit or failing to wear a seat belt rises to the level of "authentic" crime.

    In order to go to court and sue another individual, one must be able to prove "damages" have been incurred as a result of that individual's action(s). No damages? No crime. No case.

    Where are the "damages" to society or another individual when a driver exceeds a speed limit or fails to wear the seat belt? Unless the speeding directly results in the loss of vehicle control and damage to property or person, or forces another person to react in an unexpected and negative or dangerous way (e.g., to slam on their brakes), there is no damages, no crime, and no case.

    The (presumed) officer whom I quoted in my blog bit wrote: "What happens on the roadways when police aren't around? We see a lot of speeding, red light running, etc." To which I responded, "So what?"

    Since this is the sort of activity that most police officers primarily "police" against on an average shift, I guess they must elevate the importance of this sort of "criminal" behavior in their minds in order to justify the majority of their daily activities.

    By the way, what does the "1891" stand for? It wouldn't be a badge number, would it?

    ~ D-FensDogg
    'Loyal American Underground'

    ReplyDelete
  12. Since Mr. McCarthy has confessed to his transgressions, I wanted to publicly post his address so that the proper authorities can apprehend him.

    He lives at 1060 West Addison Street in Chicago.

    Elwood

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hey, that wasn't very nice.
    Now I have to move!

    ~ D-FensDogg
    'Loyal American Underground'

    ReplyDelete
  14. I'm not even sure if you're blog is still active( haven't clicked the top) so wanted to let you know. I just came from an article @ Pro Libertate and followed your profile here. I came across Will's blog after his passing (condolences to all who knew him) so I wasn't able to thank him, personally, for his service. Having said that, I've longed for the same informative site. I'd say i found one. So, if nothing else,I'll read your archived pages and gleam from you as well. Thank you,Landy F.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Howdy, LANDY!

    I appreciate you stopping by and taking the time to read and comment.

    William Grigg was a fine writer and I miss his blog. If you've not already read it, I recommend his book 'FREEDOM ON THE ALTAR: The UN's Crusade Against God & Family'.

    I became aware of Mr. Grigg back in the mid-1990s, when he was a writer for 'The New American' magazine, which I subscribed to for years. Their website is still an excellent source of information for political news and Constitutional issues.

    I'm afraid I've not been very active on my 'F-FFF' blog for awhile. I do, however, post four times a month on my music-related blog 'Battle Of The Bands'.

    I do intend to become more active on THIS blog again eventually. I still consider this my primary blog. But I'm in a period of transition at the moment -- hoping to buy a house in a different city and make what I hope will be the last move of my life.

    Incidentally, I have never posted frequently at 'F-FFF' on matters of police misconduct (as you may have already learned). That is just one of many topics I've examined here. The principal subjects of 'F-FFF' are Spirituality (I call myself a "Maverick Christian") and "The New World Order". That latter topic touches upon MANY different facets, obviously including police problems.

    I can recommend a few other websites that are much more active than my own, if you're still looking for similarly themed blogs.

    Thanks again for taking time to comment! It's nice to know that there are still people out there discovering some of my older blog bits!

    Bless And Be Blessed!

    ~ D-FensDogG
    STMcC Presents BATTLE OF THE BANDS

    ReplyDelete
  16. Yes, please, list any sites that you're aware of, still active and reporting on police malfeasance. This has become my obsession, I intend to get involved in some fashion.

    I will, visit your blog a well. Because the NWO will and does effect ever facet of our lives.

    ReplyDelete
  17. LANDY ~
    I apologize for my tardiness. Ordinarily, I am quite punctual in responding to blog comments. But right now I'm in the process of buying a house in another city and then coming shortly is... the big move. So, as you can imagine, most of my blog-time is being diverted to the house sale, and traveling back and forth between two cities.

    Unfortunately, several of the "Police Brutality" sites I used to visit are now defunct (including, of course, William Grigg's).

    But here are a couple you can check out:

    [Link> HighImpactFlix

    [Link> Police State USA

    The latter has not posted anything in about 3 years. They used to have a really good website, too, and that also has gone under. But there's some older videos there that you will probably be interested in watching.

    And the guy who manages the HighImpactFlix channel is apparently an Anarchist, which I do not find to be a very intelligent political philosophy. Like William Grigg was, I too am a strict Constitutionalist (with a pronounced Anti-Federalist lean). Nevertheless, the HighImpactFlix YouTube channel has A LOT of high-quality anti-police abuse videos. That guy makes some very good videos!

    I hope to become much, Much, MUCH more active on this blog (and a couple of my other blogs, as well) after I have made the move to my new residence in a much better city.

    But, although I have addressed our police problem on this blog several times, the primary focus of F-FFF is Spirituality (I refer to myself as a "Maverick Christian") and The New World Order - which is actually just another facet of S/spiritual warfare. You probably know what I mean by that.

    Again, I thank you for showing an interest in this blog of mine, and I hope it will become something worth visiting regularly in about a month or so from now, when I've settled into my new digs.

    Bless and be blessed, Brother!

    ~ D-FensDogG
    STMcC Presents BATTLE OF THE BANDS

    ReplyDelete
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