You may recall the Catholic Church’s troubles with pedophile priests. The trouble wasn’t just that some priests had an interest in little kids. It was that the Church was interested in covering it up. One way this was done, it turned out, was to send a kid-touching priest to a new parish. One where the parishioners didn’t know about his interests – or his background.
The same rat line is in place for armed government workers (aka, cops) who abuse citizens – and the law – in the “line of duty.”
They might get fired but are often re-hired.
Just someplace else.
For example, Kurt Kezeske.
He was a Milwaukee, Wisconsin Hero Cop. Until he got caught on video blatantly lying about the events leading up to a high-speed chase that resulted in a horrible accident that almost caused the deaths of several people.
He is now a cop in the small village of Eagle, WI – about 45 minutes away.
Musical heroes.
Kezeske was out collecting revenue – whoops, looking for “speeders” – when he found one. A motorcycle rider coming the other way, riding faster than the law allows. But mere “speeding” is not a felony – and the official policy of the Milwaukee Police Department (in force for two years prior to this incident, hence it is likely Kezeske was aware) forbade high-speed pursuits except in case of felony pursuits.
The “speeding” rider had not committed one – so Kezeske invented one.
He radio’d dispatch that the motorcyclist had tried to “ram” him – which is a felony. But Kezeske’s own dashcam video incontrovertibly revealed this to be a deliberate lie. Were it not for the video, of course, Kezeske’s lie would have been taken as gospel truth and the subsequent carnage legally justified.
But all that happened to Kezeske was that he eventually got fired.
And was then re-hired by the Village of Eagle.
Unbeknownst to the residents of Eagle.
Who probably ought to have known it.
Kind of like the parents of kids at the Catholic day care center run by Father McFingers.
Is it any less worse, when you stop to think about it?
Pedophile priests re-molesting in a new town. Lying, abusive cops doing the same in a new town.
Shouldn’t lying about an incident be an automatic disqualification for further employment as a law enforcer (!!) … anywhere?
Unfortunately, much worse than that isn’t.
Cops who kill get fired – then re-hired.
Often with the connivance of their fellow “heroes.”
For example, Eagle Village Police Captain Steve Lesniewski knew that Kezeske had been fired for “misconduct” – that is, for deliberately lying about the actions of a “suspect,” whom he tried to frame for a felony he did not commit – and nonetheless recommended that Kezeske be employed as a law enforcer for the Village.
A law enforcer who lies about his actions and those of others.
Lesniewski hid these ugly facts from the Village elders, who agreed with Lesniewski’s Gold Star recommendations and hired the cretinous thug Kezeske.
Who is now free to lie about their actions.
Eagle Village Supervisor Mike Rice stated that had he known about Kezeske’s history of committing perjury on official police reports and lying to investigators he would not have voted to hire him. Lesniewski admits to knowing about Kezeske’s history, but when confronted by local media dismissed his actions as a “personnel matter.”
A fairly common “matter,” as it turns out.
In Wisconsin alone, more than a third of the “heroes” fired by one department for abuses of one kind or another end up working for another department.
Via Fox6Now.com:
Kezeske is hardly the first fired cop to get hired by another department.
FOX6 Investigators asked the Wisconsin Department of Justice for a list of every police officer in the state who’s been discharged from duty since 2012 — and where they work now. It took the department 42 days to turn over the list. And when they did, every officer’s name was blacked out.
In a letter to FOX 6 News, attorneys for the Department of Justice argue that releasing officer’s names might subject them to personal attacks and could have a chilling effect on recruitment. The records they did release show that more than one-third of the officers discharged since 2012 are already back on the job somewhere else.
Sharon Royston says she’s not surprised it happened in Eagle.”I don’t think it should’ve happened,” she said, ” I was never allowed to see any background checks. Never.” Royston is a former member of the Eagle Village Board, ” 40 percent of our village budget is going towards the police department and I didn’t think, and a lot of villagers didn’t think, we were getting our money’s worth.”
It was Royston who exposed a secret deal that allowed the last police chief to retire with a two-year severance package. A highly unusual deal the village is still paying for, but can’t explain because of a confidentiality agreement. “We’ll never know. They are prevented from telling any details,” Royston said.
So Royston spearheaded an effort to eliminate the Eagle Police Department and have Waukesha County patrol instead, but voters shot it down. That was before officer Kezeske was hired full-time in May.
After Fox 6 Investigators started asking questions, the Eagle Police Committee met to talk about their hiring practices, but they declined to talk about any officer in particular.
“I think we’re gonna have to… I don’t know what we’re gonna have to do, to be honest with you,” Hein said to colleagues in the meeting.
Rice says he never would have voted to hire Officer Kezeske had he known about his background.
“The biggest thing is the falsifying reports and I think that would concern anybody here,” Rice said.
But the one man who admits he knew, didn’t seem to share his concern.
“Did you know about the background? ” (Fox 6 Investigator) Polcyn asked.
” I did,” Captain Lesniewski said.”
“You did? And you were ok with that?” Polcyn asked, as Lesniewski walked away.
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As Harvey Silverglate said, each one of us commits 3 felonies a day without even realizing it. As the handbook of federal, state and local regulations grows thicker, along with the always-on panopticon of the NSA/Google alliance, we will be completely at the mercy of big brother, liable to be incarcerated at any time.
Point of my previous rant being that ‘enforcing laws’ is no excuse when most of them do not deserve to be on the books in the first place.
Hi Escher,
I agree, but the blame (ultimately) rests with the nature of the work. For example, many of the summary executions we’ve witnessed on video began over a petty (and victimless) traffic or arbitrarily illegal drug “offense.” If these Heroes had no legal power to bully someone over such things, there would be no pretext for the initiation of force that led to escalating force that led to the person’s murder.
I think the article written by the person who suggested that cops should be modeled on the fire department was brilliant. Instead of prowling around looking for trouble (and finding it) they ought to come when called only. In other words, when they are needed as keepers of the peace, to deal with someone who has disturbed the peace.
Imagine it.
Instead of living in a country with armed enforcers looking for reasons to “bust” people, you’d only see the occasional peace keeper. And only when the peace wasn’t being kept.
Well said, Eric. The first question I always ask when I hear another shooting story is, “Why did the cops approach this guy in the first place?” If it is reported at all, it is quickly forgotten as clueless reporters run to interview Al Sharpton.
The fire department model would be a big improvement, but of course the best would be to privatize it all. Non-libertarians howl when they hear that, and imagine having to pay thousands of dollars a week for security.
But they are thinking of what it would cost to have a private bodyguard around 24/7, which of course would be very costly. We’re not getting that level of protection now – not even close.
Instead, they should estimate what it would cost to get private service comparable to the service they get now from the government cops.
How much could a company charge if its service was to send a stenographer with a gun out 20 minutes after the harm has been done to write down what happened?
NO! to the firefighter model…here’s why:
A firefighter from a certain southeastern Michigan community claimed to have a “arson dog”–one that could detect accelerants. This “firefighter” and his dog were instrumental in ruining many peoples’ lives by his testimony alone. Insurance companies LOVED this guy as he was able to get them out of paying (valid) claims. People were denied valid insurance claims and prosecuted for arson on the testimony of this “arson dog’s” handler.
Those who were “burned” by this supposed arson dog’s “handler” had no recourse, because of “qualified immunity”. The firefighter (and fire department) could not be sued.
Finally one citizen who had been accused of arson fought back by suing to prove the “arson dog’s” ability. The dog was found to have NO special ability. The “arson dog” and his human master’s career was finally over. How many innocent people were convicted of arson and lost everything they owned??
Another case was that of a plating plant that caught fire. The owners had a fire department “approved” fire plan in place which involved shutting off utilities and shutting down processes in an orderly fashion. The firefighters that responded to the fire pushed the owner out of the way, and told him that they were going to do things “their way”. The building burned to the ground.
A firefighter’s job (for at least 98% of the time) is not inherently dangerous. This does not take away from the seriousness of their job, which is to be commended. but, firefighter arrogance can be just as dangerous as police arrogance. THIS is why firefighters should be included in the abolition of immunity for public officials.
I remember the arson dog. Another magic trick. How many thousands of years has this basic con been in use? In the 21st century USA it’s magic dogs that only trained dog whisperers can understand. It’s like witch trials and other nonsense repackaged.
Excellent column and excellent discussions in the comments. I have some hope that the issue of out-of-control police will be brought into ever-greater focus until something substantial is done. If a few communities fire their cops and institute some system in which the hired guardians really ARE guardians, not nasty revenue-generators and killers, the rest of the nation might take notice and follow suit.
Hi JdL,
Thanks – and, missed you! Where’ve you been?
And, see this: http://ericpetersautos.com/2016/09/23/trigger-happy-ok-heroine-bail/
For a couple years now in Tx. there’s a group that’s been working to reform the whole system. They’re getting very little cooperation except by the Lege. Judges, DA’s and cops are not complicit in stemming corruption…..not in their best interests. All 3 groups benefit by more laws and more convictions, not to mention the “for profit” jails.
I have posted this previously on other sites…I feel it bears repeating…feel free to repost this with attribution…
Ever notice that police unions are “fraternal”? This should tell you something. The “thin-blue-line” is a gang, little different than street gangs–at least when it comes to “covering-up” their questionable and quite often, illegal and criminal behavior.
In today’s day and age, “officer safety” trumps de-escalation of force. This, in part, is due to the militarization of the police along with training in Israeli police tactics. This becomes a problem, with the “us vs. them” attitude that is fosters, along with the fact that Israel is a very different place, being on a constant “war footing”, and by necessity, its police tactics are very different.
There are too many instances of police being “given a pass”, even when incontrovertible video and audio evidence is presented. Grand juries, guided by police-friendly prosecutors, quite often refuse to charge those police officers who abuse their authority.
Police officers, who want to do the right thing, are quite often marginalized and put into harms way, by their own brethren…When a police officer is beating on someone that is already restrained while yelling, “stop resisting” THAT is but one reason police have a “bad name” in many instances…this makes the “good cops” who are standing around, witnessing their “brethren in blue” beating on a restrained suspect, culpable as well…
Here are changes that can help reduce police-induced violence:
1. Get rid of police unions. Police unions (fraternities) protect the guilty, and are responsible for the massive whitewashing of questionable police behavior that is presently being committed.
2. Eliminate both “absolute” and “qualified” immunity for all public officials. This includes, prosecutors and judges, police and firefighters, code enforcement and child protective services officials, and others who deal with the citizenry. The threat of being sued personally would encourage them to behave themselves. Require police officers to be “bonded” by an insurance company, with their own funds. No bond= no job.
3. Any public funds disbursed to citizens as a result of police misconduct should come out of police pension funds–NOT from the taxpayers.
4. Regular drug-testing of police officers as well as incident-based drug testing should take place whenever an officer is involved in a violent situation with a citizen–no exceptions.
5. Testing for steroid use should be a part of the drug testing program. You know damn well, many police officers “bulk up” with the “help” of steroids. Steroids also affect users mentally as well, making them more aggressive. The potential for abuse of citizens increases greatly with steroid use.
6. Internal affairs should only be used for disagreements between individual officers–NOT for investigations involving citizen abuse. State-level investigations should be mandatory for all suspected abuses involving citizens.
7. Prosecutors should be charged with malfeasance IF any evidence implicating police officer misconduct is not presented to the grand jury.
8. A national or state-by-state database of abusive individuals who should NEVER be allowed to perform police work should be established–a “blacklist” of abusive (former) police officers.
9. Most people are unaware that police have special “rules” that prohibit them from being questioned for 48 hours. This allows them to “get their stories straight” and makes it easier to “cover up” bad police behavior. Police must be subject to the same laws as civilians.
10. All police should be required to wear bodycams and utilize dashcams that cannot be turned off. Any police officers who causes a dash or body cam to be turned off should be summarily fired–no excuses. Today’s body and dash cams are reliable enough to withstand harsh treatment. Body and dashcam footage should be uploaded to a public channel “on the cloud” for public perusal.
11. All interrogations must be video and audio recorded. Police should be prohibited from lying or fabricating stories in order to get suspects to confess. False confessions ARE a problem in many departments. Unknown to most people, police can lie with impunity while civilians can be charged with lying to police…fair? I think not…
12. Any legislation passed that restricts the rights of ordinary citizens, such as firearms magazine capacity limits, types of weapons allowed, or restrictive concealed-carry laws should apply equally to police. No special exemptions to be given to police. Laws must be equally applied.
Police work is not inherently dangerous…there are many other professions that are much more dangerous.
A little “Andy Taylor” could go a long way in allaying fears that citizens have of police.
That being said, I have no problem with police officers who do their job in a fair, conscientious manner…however, it is time to call to task those police officers who only “protect and serve” themselves.
13: No former military: If you’ve been in the military, you are disqualified for employment in civilian peace keeping.
These are two completely different disciplines, and, as we’ve learned, you will mix them at your peril.
I agree…military veterans should not become police officers without extensive “reprogramming”…however, this valid argument falls in with the type of training today’s police officers receive. Israeli trainers are now advising American police departments…it would appear that nowadays, “we are all Palestinians”…
Regards,
” I have no problem with police officers who do their job in a fair, conscientious manner”
No, the problem, as Eric has stated very well, is that there is no way to be “fair and conscientious” as a law enforcement officer. Because the problem is the laws themselves that they are intended to enforce.
You, sir, are absolutely correct…your point is well taken…
Regards,
The continuing question of “Who is going to police the police”? It won’t be someone receiving a government paycheck. The problem was handled in the past and should be today with an INDEPENDENT – not prosecutor, or judge run – grand jury.
DUTY OF THE “COMMON LAW” GRAND JURY – If anyone’s unalienable rights have been violated, or removed, without a legal sentence of their peers, from their lands, home, liberties or lawful right, we [the twenty-five] shall straightway restore them. And if a dispute shall arise concerning this matter it shall be settled according to the judgment of the twenty-five Grand Jurors, the sureties of the peace. MAGNA CARTA, JUNE 15, A.D. 1215, 52.
That’s those who hung on to be fired.
Bad cops are often allowed to simply resign. Then they get a new job elsewhere free and clear.
What’s even more amazing, is that people need video proof that a motorcyclist didn’t try to actually ram a car.
exactly, “*pssshhh* dispatch. motorcyclist just tried to commit suicide. over *pssshhh*”
this cop didn’t get fired for lying, he got fired for telling a stupid lie
cops lie like this all the time to justify their actions, the best ones just tell the best lies
Hi asdfasf,
It slays me that a guy like this – a known liar – could be re-hired as a law enforcer who will be called upon to testify in court. What credence ought a court extend to person who is not merely a known liar but a person who lied under color of law?
What’s next? Putting known pedophile priests in charge of Boy Scout camps?
Cops are not only expected to lie in court (“testilying,” the actually call it amongst themselves), but prosecutors during voir-dire will actually move to have potential jurors excluded/disempaneled who indicate that they refuse to accept a cop’s word under oath as unimpeachable gospel, despite the fact that the very idea insults the intelligence of even newborn infants. Judges (i.e, auxiliary prosecutors) of course wholeheartedly uphold this practice.
As for putting pedophile priests in charge of Boy Scout camps, the current Prog-Marxist anti-pope would probably endorse that idea enthusiastically.
“Texas Town Experiences 61% Drop in Crime After Firing Their Police Department”
http://thefreethoughtproject.com/texas-town-sees-61-drop-crime-firing-cops-hiring-private-firm/#dBgxhMBIZAd1UbeT.99
I’m surprised that the drop wasn’t more on the order of 9 – 99 percent, given that most “crime” is a concoction of the State.
95 – 99 percent
Very, very common practice among government employees, especially schools. My mom was a schoolteacher and her principal even had a name for it “passing the trash”.
Somehow if a teacher managed to get fired (very difficult for a district) the school district would seal their records (this would happen for incompetence as well as crimes). If asked the school district would only provide dates of employment and nothing else. So even if you try to do a background check, unless it became public (aka media coverage) you aren’t likely to find anything out. If the firing district would provide more information on a person, they could be sued by the fired person. Thanks again to lawyers and public unions.
Crimes by priests are a tiny percentage compared with crimes by government employees. There are way more government drones then catholic priests, and even fewer people out there stopping them. Not downplaying crimes by priests but the big missed story is the one about our “public servants”.
…there was a case recently where fast-food employees refused to serve cops. The news media was all over the story, taking the side of the cops.
It turns out that these fast food employees were being constantly harassed by these very cops…being stopped on false pretexts, ticketed for frivolous and contrived offenses, and in general, being abused by these cops.
Of course, the reason for the employees’ refusal to serve them was never brought out…
No doubt the pigs were trying to extort free food out of the fast food employees, who to their credit refused to express any fear of the swine and decided that keeping their jobs was more important than adding unearned slops to the trough.
The item about priests pales next to medical doctors! As for the cop, the Fraternal Order of Police almost certainly has its database and can pull strings fast to keep bully boys on a payroll. Firing a policeman isn’t enough, their state peace officers license must be permanently revoked without possibility of appeal.
Swine unions need to be busted up permanently and immediately – as should be unions for any other government employees. Of course the obvious reason why they haven’t been is because the swine are the bodyguards for the Ruling Class, who know better than to provoke their guard dogs, who would turn on and devour them in half a New York minute if they antagonize them (think of the Roman Empire’s Praetorian Guards).
Well-said, Lib!
Unions are legitimate for people in ordinary jobs.
But being in an electricians’ or autoworkers’ union doesn’t absolve you of individual responsibility for criminal actions and the union will not go to bat for a member who commits a crime. But cop unions use their power to do exactly that; to shield abusive/criminal cops from being held accountable for their actions.
I’ve argued for years that, at the very least, those given life or death power over others ought to be held to at least the same standard of accountability that would apply to an ordinary person. Arguably, they should be held to a much higher standard, especially as regards use of force. But also as regards knowledge of the law.
Bad enough that the laws have become abusive, but even worse is the fact that cops routinely go even farther and commit abuses on their own “authority” – and are rarely, if ever, held to account.
If it were up to me, any provable instance of misrepresentation of the truth, or omission of relevant facts, would be sufficient grounds for not merely immediate termination but lifetime disqualification for ever “serving” again.
Any resort to force that could not be justified on the basis of the same standard that applies to any ordinary person regarding the legally permissible use of defensive force would be just as aggressively prosecuted.
Etc.
It reminds me of a young cop in a nearby town who had a bad rep for a lot of things including really abusing young people, stopping minor girls, jailbait for you and me, falsely accusing them of various offenses. It was deja vu since we’d just gotten rid of a DPS that did the same thing in my county. This guy gets into so much shit they get him a job in my county SO. He plies his illegal, immoral trade in this county and everybody’s pissed but the sorry POS sheriff we had had nary a bad word for him. His father, who was also on the same force he’d been on previously, got caught in a state police sting while employed in the police force of that town. Now what he got caught with, lots of speed and coke, was a felony but he was simply sent to our county where his son was making his bad rep all over. Together they began hassling everybody they could find under 21 and try to bust them for drinking and drugs and anything else they could. The illegally entered a pasture party where there was a large crowd of minors. Some had their family’s RV’s there so they could sleep it off, get a little nooky and just have fun. They broke into those RV’s as well as trying to collect en masse the entire group. All this happened at the edge of a 30 acre tank and some got away by swimming to the other side and walking the 7 or 8 miles to town and home or to a ride. But they nailed dozens of kids, illegally. The next week the courthouse looked like a farm/ranch convention with all these pissed off dads who had come to speak with the sheriff. Of course, being the POS he was, he tore up all the tickets. The father/son team ended up next in Granbury, Tx. where I heard they were up to the same old tricks. It’s large enough to probably keep them on forever…..unless the get caught in another sting.
“Gypsy Cops” as Will Grigg so accurately labels them .
The one silver lining to this sickening saga (and the many, many others like it) is that each new example will erode further and further any residual respect for government cops. That can only be considered a good thing.
I want to lash out at bad officers and the system, and the horrible practice of reusing toxic societal bile the body of America keeps circulating around, but truthfully I can’t. I’ve been in ride alongs with officers, I’ve talked to policemen and interviewed them when I worked for local news, and I’ve seen what they have to go through. It’s not pretty, and I wouldn’t trade any amount of money to take their job. That’s the problem, no people want to step up to the plate, so you either end up with really good cops (patriots, warriors, sentinels) and bad ones (psychopaths, authoritarians, and tyrants).
I know it’s hard to judge on a case by case basis, but I can only see stories and incidents like these (no doubt rising) as a symptom of a much larger societal illness we as a country are suffering.
“so you either end up with really good cops (patriots, warriors, sentinels) and bad ones (psychopaths, authoritarians, and tyrants).
Those good cops you mention…every single one of them are fully aware of the bad ones you mention, and they do nothing about it.
Those good ones, might actually be worse than the bad ones. At minimum, they are as bad as the bad ones.
It could be down to the reason that good cops who speak out are the ones who get the axe, not the bad ones. Much like how I’ve been kicked out/fired from several organizations/jobs because I’ve stood up against authority. Instead of having a conversation and discussing the issue, I was made to “go away” from the group. I suspect that it’s the same in many places. People know they can’t stand up, because all that will happen is they get punished and the guilty walk free.
Hi AJ,
I no longer believe in “good cops.” It is an impossibility. There is no such thing as a cop who only goes after criminals – properly defined (people who cause harm as opposed to those who break the law).
Most of the work performed by cops today entails the hassling/fining/caging of people who’ve done nothing harmful to anyone.
That is to say, people who have not committed any crime at all.
Could you, as a for-instance, man a “checkpoint” and force your fellow man to halt, produce his “papers” and submit to a probable cause-free interrogation?
How about threatening a fellow human being with violence (always implied, always actual for failure to submit and obey) to make them “buckle up”?
How would you feel about placing a fellow human being in handcuffs and placing them in a cage for “possessing” arbitrarily illegal drugs?
Seizing (stealing) someone’s cash, because possessing “excessive” cash is “suspicious”?
Arrest (handcuff/cage) a person for possessing a firearm without the permission of the state?
As a cop, you would be required to do such things – and many more such. It would be your job. You could not decline – and remain a cop.
Can such a person be considered “good”?
I don’t see how, especially given they do have a choice.
To not be a cop. To not enforce tyrannical laws. To not victimize people who are not criminals, but who have merely disobeyed or ignored a tyrannical law.
To say – the hell with this.
I have some sympathy for the WWII-era German who donned a uniform. He was under duress. It was very hard to decline. If you did, you’d likely find yourself on the other side of the barbed wire fence.
But American cops are under no such duress. A “good cop” could (and some do) quit in disgust; refuse to have anything to do with it – and suffer no repercussions other than the need to find a different job.
But, they don’t. They like the work. Or the money (which is very good, given what they’d otherwise be capable of earning). Or the status – and the power they wield.
Good men?
I don’t see it.
I like to apply the “Would you pay extra?” test when evaluating the “work” that these legislation enforcement officers do.
Imagine that government police were never invented; that instead, people have always contracted with private security services for protection. Your contract is up for renewal, and a company rep stops by your house. Let’s say you’re paying $75 a month now.
“Have I got a deal for you!” he says. “For an extra $50 a month, we will find out who is growing marijuana in this state and lock up as many of them as we can.”
Would anybody pay extra?
Hi Roland,
Unfortunately, I think many people would pay extra. A great deal of the problem we’ve got arises from the control freak fetish that afflicts all too many people. These people don’t like what you’re doing (or not doing) and will eagerly vote for (and pay for) thugs to make sure you are punished or persuaded by the threat of punishment.
It’s a defect in the genome.
Yes, of course they will vote for it, but in my fantasy world where government cops have never existed, and where private companies actually protect customers’ lives and property, do you really think they’d pay their own money to arrest a drug dealer 200 miles away, or to ticket a seatbelt-less driver in a neighboring town?
That’s the trouble with voting: busybodies can impose their will without paying the full price themselves.
Hi Roland,
Yup!
It’s worth noting that organized “public” police departments are a relatively modern contrivance. It may be necessary to have such (we can debate the merits of this) but certainly it is neither necessary nor justified to extend their mandate beyond keeping the peace. Which can be objectively defined as stepping in when a harm has been caused or is clearly imminent (e.g., a man waving a loaded gun at people).
If that became the standard, this business of having law enforcers prowling around in search of “violations” could be done away with – and with it, probably 95 percent of the problems we’ve got with regard to policing.
eric, you…..oh wait, I’m not clover. Remove “illegal” from drugs and you’ve just cut the budget by 80% at minimum. Remove seizure and forfeiture and there goes their neighborhood and their high pay plus big bonuses. The country wouldn’t make it without that….I mean the Just Us system would be direly hurt. Then they’d have to get real jobs so most would be drawing welfare…..a much cheaper alternative for the rest of us.
One thing I would pay good money to see: armies of unemployed swine being interviewed down at the local job placement agency to see what kind of gainful employment they could be place into, as well as the look on their faces once they realize that their entry-level salaries in the private sector would be a fraction of the ill-gotten lucre they enjoyed as parasites.
Unless La Cosa Nostra or some other criminal gang is recruiting enforcers (and maybe they are), I’m hard-pressed to imagine to what beneficial use these creatures could be put.
I dunno, Eric. As much as these control-freak Clovers would salivate at the idea of such “extra services,” the thought of them having to open up their own wallets and pay for them WITH THEIR OWN MONEY would probably turn them off of the idea. As we all well know, “law and order ‘conservatives'” –you know, the “lock’em up and throw away the key” types who whine endlessly about people parasiting off of the taxpayer– are the very first to shamelessly reach into other people’s pockets to pay for their own pet tyrannical projects if they’re something that caters to their warped ideological liking, just like their libard/prog brethren. But having it come directly out of their own wallets? Nah. It ain’t something immediately, tangibly, or materially beneficial to them, like fooooooooootball, or that new car or house they’ve always wanted. They’d figure out first how to make everyone else pay for it before they’d buy off on the idea.
Eric,
Very well put, and I agree in you saying there are no “good” cops in terms of the system forcing them to be unjust law enforcement officers, but in regards to stating the person themselves is bad (not saying you’re saying that) I wanted to make the distinction that there are still people in law enforcement that believe they are there to support the community and protect people, even though they may be misled/informed etc.
Yes, I know the argument of “good people do bad things”, but it’s easy to fall into the trap of demonizing the person vs. the actions when the actions are often a result of a controller (big brother for example) rather than a “bad heart” if you will, someone with malicious original intent. It’s this kind of thinking that leads to ultimate social divide, and that is undoubtedly what is tearing this country apart now.
I know it’s hard though, I think I am as bitter as anyone towards law enforcement’s actions and frankly, most of my cars and bikes have violated DOT, EPA, or NHTSA standards in more ways than one as direct result of that.
I still have a middle finger, and I use it more than I should.
Thanks, AJ!
I’d add – in reply to your comments – that one of the things that puts cops in a “bad” category is they’re not forced to do what they do. They choose to. They could choose not to.
Yes, I agree, many believe they are supporting the community and helping people. But (to make the point) many German Nazis and Soviet communists also truly believed in the goodness of those ideologies and that they were acting for the benefit of the community and to protect the people.
In many ways, these kinds of people are far worse precisely because they do believe they’re right.
Think (another example) of the witch burners of the Middle Ages. They were also convinced they were doing right.
As a journalist who has worked for major big city papers, I’ve met and talked with many cops over the years. Most are not psychopaths or sadists, in my opinion. They generally fall into two categories: The Order Follower, who is defined by the classic line, “I’m just doing my job” – and the Law and Order type, who fervently believes in the Law as his god and for whom moral right is synonymous with legal (and the reverse).
Both will arrest and cage you and feel no guilt whatsoever, for “offenses” that have caused no harm to any other person. But the former will do it bureaucratically, with as little effort as necessary while the latter will go out of his way to “bust” you.
I’ll say it this way – the only good phero is a former phero, whether he has voluntarily given up his ‘life of crime’ or been forced out because he tried to stand up against the system.
Agreed, Phillip!
I can see a well-intentioned but naive person signing on to be a law enforcer. But the nature of the work then becomes very clear, at which point, the honorable and decent thing would be to walk away in disgust.
But of course, very few do.
I’m going to add here that I believe most people ARE honorable and decent. The problem is that they don’t think for themselves, so they are only moral according to their own limited programming. It is a problem that only independent thinking can resolve, which is a skill all but omitted in modern society.
Let me make the supposition for a moment that life on this rock is a simulation. That we are in a simulation, a role playing game of a sort.
Now any role player understands that there are PCs (player characters) and NPCs (non-player characters). The NPCs are controlled by the gamemaster or the computer. They only have enough ‘wits’ or function as their role in the game requires.
With sufficient programming skill one can create NPCs that are very difficult to tell from the other PCs.
What if most people on the planet are NPCs?
Yes, I agree, many believe they are supporting the community and helping people. But (to make the point) many German Nazis and Soviet communists also truly believed in the goodness of those ideologies and that they were acting for the benefit of the community and to protect the people.
In many ways, these kinds of people are far worse precisely because they do believe they’re right.
Think (another example) of the witch burners of the Middle Ages. They were also convinced they were doing right.
You took the words right off of my fingertips, Eric.
Joseph Stalin thought he was doing what needed to be done to “modernize” Russia, at the mere cost of 20 million-plus innocent lives. Closer to home, Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez (and his immediate successor, Nicolas Maduro) thought he was doing the right thing by nationalizing everything in the country, even though he (and his successor) have brought the country to the brink of complete socioeconomic collapse.
Both men were made well aware of the destructiveness of what they were doing, yet both were too heavily ego-invested in it to change course. That’s exactly what today’s “good” cops do: they know that the system they “work” within is rotten and evil to its core, yet because of either ego investment or economic desperation (some know, at least viscerally, that they’re too dull-witted to be anything other than cops or criminals), they play along with it and abet the evil they claim to despise. In this they are no better than they criminal thugs they serve with and serve under.
The other piece of the ‘there are no good cops’ logic is that any police that cover for or don’t expose the corruption in their ranks are as bad as the perpetrators. In this story itself – You have a police captain who hires a ‘brother officer’ who lied in an attempt to get someone charged with a felony, which is criminal. This other cop committed a crime and instead of shunning him and calling him out publicly, so that he is never hired again, he welcomes him with open arms.
The ‘Thin Blue Line’ or ‘Brotherhood of the Badge’ are viral entities that protect the worst by the silence or inaction of the supposed ‘good cops’.
And when a cop tries to go against the horde, they are shunned, harassed, even fired. An FBI testified against the cops who murdered Kelly Thomas and after saying what he saw on the video of these two ‘heros’ beating a man to death was vile and the worst thing he’d ever seen, he was jeered, booed, and hissed at by the gallery of ‘brother officers’.
For me, until proven otherwise, I live by the idea of ACAB. It puts things in perspective for me.
The ‘Thin Blue Line’ or ‘Brotherhood of the Badge’ are viral entities that protect the worst by the silence or inaction of the supposed ‘good cops’.
They’re a gang, just like the Crips, the Bloods, the Latin Kings, and the Chicago Disciples. The only difference is these four “non-state” gangs generally leave you alone if you leave them alone. Not so with the Fat Blue Line Gang.
“They’re a gang, just like the Crips, the Bloods, the Latin Kings, and the Chicago Disciples.”
And don’t forget the Demlicans and Repubocrats.
Here is an example of where I believe Biblical Law has something of value that we should follow: the punishment for perjury, i.e., false testimony, is that the false witness receives the same punishment to which he tried to make his victim subject, lex talionis, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, lash for lash, life for life.
Or financial restitution. Sorry I forgot that above.
How about those who would act on false witness without a whit of evidence of it to be true or false? It (false witness) seems to be good enough for state poleez. And the punishment would have been what amounts to prison for life for two people.
Well, if you’re interested, another Biblical law of testimony is that no one can be convicted except on the testimony of 2 eye-witnesses. No ‘He said, she said,’ let alone ‘Cop said, mundane said.’ And eye-witness identification had to be someone you knew, not just saw on the street
Cops like to tell people to cooperate, the jury will go easier on them. What jury? One reason to charge you will end with half a dozen charges that are just a way to charge you for the same crime. You don’t need worry about a jury, Almost 90% of convictions are plea bargains. The laws are rigged this way. Not only that, if they have a charge that won’t stick, they’ll find other charges you can’t disprove. No matter they can’t prove them, you’re guilty unless you have the money and power to be deemed innocent. Guilty until proved innocent is the way it works now.
Hi Phillip,
This strikes me as entirely reasonable. Because equitable. No more, no less.
When I drove trucks for a company in Texas, I had a co-driver (briefly, thank goodness) who had been kicked out of the Houston PD. He bragged all the time that “they fired me ’cause I whupped a n***** with my handcuffs.”
I don’t know whether he ever worked as a cop again, but some 30 years later – after Al Gore invented the internet – I searched for his name. Up popped a newspaper article about his conviction for murdering his girlfriend.
That was 30 years ago, when PDs at least pretended to have standards. Today that guy would be probably be Chief of Police somewhere – even AFTER having murdered his girlfriend.