Pike,
>Unfortunately, it is true. Some of these younger cops are just plain to
>gung ho or to John Wayne in ninja suits.
As you say, unfortunately not every person is perfect, even ones in
uniform. But I don't think incidents like this are the sign of the
coming Apocalypse either. As a historian, I like to look at events in
perspective with what has come before it, which is a little longer ago
than what CNN was covering last week. Did you folks know that...
Cops used to have the ability to do just about anything that they wanted
to you. And if you challenged them in court, you lost (and if you were
not a white male with money and position, you might not have even got
that far!). Over the decades things have gradually swung more towards
the average citizen's benefit. It is historical fact, so if someone
cares to debate it I suggest doing some serious research first. In fact,
the balance of authority has gone swung so much in the other way that
criminals today have almost as many rights as their victims. But here is
one story for you all which you might find interesting...
In my fair State of Maine the movement to ban alcoholic consumption was
born just before the Civil War. Not long afterwards Maine became the
first "dry" state in the union. Yup, long before the Federal Government
decided that NOBODY should have a drop of alcohol country wide our fair
State, which has always stood up for the rights of its citizens, was dry
by legislative decree. Now, what does this have to do with the abuse of
power by cops? Well... they had special police that could enter your
home, without a warrant, Probable Cause, or anything else standard today,
simply because they figured you might be having a sip of beer. If they
entered and found no beer, but found something like... oh... I don't
know, a picture of a woman in underwear, they could arrest you for that
instead. And after they arrested you, for whatever they felt like, they
could hold you for as long as they wanted, without charge and without
trial. Some citizens were in fact held for months without being allowed
to see anybody in the outside world. This went on for decades. This was
way back in the far more better days of the late 1800s when the words of
the Founding Fathers were gospel, not the perverted joke they are today
(sarcasm intended).
So when we talk about some of the problems with law enforcement today,
just remember that as bad as it might be now it has been far, far, far
worse in the not to recent past. Besides some of the ovbious nasty
practices (genocide, slavery, keeping 50%+ of adult citizens from voting)
cops and state Militia troops were ordered to shoot at unarmed workers
trying to unionize in the early part of the century, or later at campuses
when students were peacefully protesting an illegal war. Heck, did you
know at one point it was a triple crime to have a beer, look at some
porno, and then have the wife perform oral sex on you in the privacy of
your own home? That was only about 70 years ago, which is not a long
time considering some of our fathers and grandfathers were in their 20s
at the time.
Unfortunately, Americans (of which I am one) have an acute lack of
understanding of their own history. The problem is that it doesn't stop
them from thinking they do. And that is very dangerous.
>
>Back to the "incident": If dad and daughter left the house with no license,
>registration, insurance and other VITAL Paperwork, THEN ran their mouths at a
>cop they 'surprised' by their being there; it is stupidty compounded by more
>stupidity.
Agreed. If you are in the wrong, being a trouble maker is not a good
idea.
>On to "Old School vs. the Ninjas": Our annual machine gun shoot here in
>Texas
>always entails notifying our local law enforcement (Sheriff, nearest PD,
>Texas Ranger Station), detailing the event. Location is always the same. If
>the law dogs drop by, it's invariably the young guys who are uneasy,
suspicious,
>tense, upset, alarmed and about any other adjective you can say to describe
somebody
>who may have been raised in a shoe box in say CT, NJ or MA.
Such events would most likely be illegal in those states, so I can
imagine law enforcement being a bit uptight about someone holding one :-)
But the large full auto shoot we have up in Maine every year, which
includes AT guns and sometimes a tank (live firing), is welcomed with
open arms. The cops love it. Plenty of past and present law enforcement
officers there, most younger. Never any problems, except from some of
the folks who live nearby the gravel pit who have to listen to almost 10
hours of shooting a day for 3 days. But their complaints are noted and
filed away because the vast, overwhelming majority are happy to have the
event here.
>My point is that it sadden's me to think Mr. Petri might consider his
>years of service to his community and state as "Thankless".
It saddens me as well. No organization is perfect, and that means there
will be better and worse members. Some police departments have more than
their fair share of one or the other or both. No different than any
other organization I know of. Like this group here. Largely a great
bunch, but I also know that some have been ripped off by other members.
But just because there are a few bad eggs doesn't mean that the whole
carton is rotten. In fact, I just sent a guy in another state, whom I
have never met, $2100 cash for a vehicle I have never seen on his word
alone. I still have faith in my fellow citizens, no matter what they
wear to work. If I smell one that doesn't seem right, I try and cover my
ass. This is a good way to avoid being paranoid or screwed, neither of
which lead to a happy life.
>If some cops don't wanna be friendly, thats OK too. Never let it be said
>that we didn't try! But, I'll tell ya this, a fast smile and a genuine
friendly
>manner make a lot of converts.
I have had "official business" with the police 7 times in my 17 years of
driving. Four locals, two staties. All of them in New England.
1x DWI check when they were legal
3x speeding
1x illegal right on red
Six times out of seven (I never drink and drive) I was guilty as charged.
The DWI stop was quick and very courteous (and later determined to be
Unconstitutional, so they are no more), two times I was let go with a
warning even though I was speeding, one time I received a far more
reduced ticket (I had a bum speedometer as it turned out, so the cop
saved me $250 by writing me up a "failure to yield to a traffic signal"
ticket instead), and one time I received the $60 ticket I deserved for
not wanting to wait to take a right hand turn. The cops that pulled me
over were generally pretty young but were never anything but professional
if even sympathetic (as I said, one saved me $250 and two let me go
without anything!).
I have also been in two accidents (neither my fault), one heated and one
very serious, and both times the local cops (Mass) handled the situation
like pros, even though I was just a kid at the time and the people that
caused the accidents were older than the cops. The cops judged the
situations as they saw them, and based on the evidence and testimony
sided with me 100% in both cases.
While I know that not all cops out there are saints, they all aren't a
bunch of Fascist pigdogs either. Having lived/visited other countries I
can say for sure that this is the place for me. I wouldn't trade my
citizenship in this country for anybody else's. Flawed humanity and all.
Why? If someone can name me a perfect place in the world and I will
wonder what drugs you are taking could warp your mind :-) Until there is
one, I'm staying put right here.
Expect the world and its people to be flawed. Deal with that
constructively and you will be a happier person for it. The opposite is
true as well.
Steve
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Jul 05 2001 - 00:40:36 PDT