This story gives us a window into the mindset of law enforcing “heroes” – who view themselves as warrior priests to be feared and obeyed:
Catlettsburg, KY Police Chief Cameron Logan ordered (at taxpayer expense) large vinyl decals with the Punisher logo and “Blue Lives Matter” which were then installed on eight patrol cars.
The decals were removed after a public outcry about the message – and the cost.
According to the Lexington Herald Leader: He would not discuss how much the decals cost.
“That design is basically to give back to the police officers,” Logan, who has been with the department for 13 years, said before reversing course on the emblems. “Our lives matter just as much as anybody’s. … I’m not racist or anything like that, I’m not trying to stir anything up like that. I consider it to be a ‘warrior logo.’ Just ’cause it has ‘Blue Lives Matter’ on the hood, all lives matter. That decal represents that we will take any means necessary to keep our community safe.”
Logan said Mayor Randall Peterman and the city council approved the designs.
Richard Brown, 37, who was elected to city council after its vote on the decals, was critical of the decision.
“I don’t see why they’d waste the money, honestly,” said Brown, a Catlettsburg native whose family owns the IGA grocery in town. “My main objective is to make sure the taxpayers’ money is used in the most efficient way possible. It wasn’t expensive, but still. If it’s something they feel strongly about, they’re risking their lives and I understand that. I just think it’s a little bit strange. There’s been a lot of people mistreated by police, and their lives matter, too, like that guy in North Carolina.”
The shooting Brown referred to was of Keith Lamont Scott, 43, in September 2016 by a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer.
Logan told io9 that he removed the decals after receiving phone calls from members of the public.
“We’re getting so many calls, and they’re saying that the Punisher logo [means] we’re out to kill people, and that’s not the meaning behind that,”
Punisher? Are you ‘ing kidding me? I would sooner trust a cop with a swastika on his car.
After this article went on the Associated Press and viral, Two people were arrested that rent a house I own and this same unfortunately inexperienced police chief decided to conveniently arrest me for the same crime. This was all in retaliation for my opposition to the placement of the serial killer on our publicly paid for police vehicles. I support the police department but this sticker did not belong on our city’s cruisers nor did our city need to foot the bill for it. If the chief wants to put it on his own car thats a different story. He charged me with multiple counts of drug trafficking when the only evidence he has is an audio tape that he says sounded like me. He has attempted to ruin my life with this but the people who live in this town know I was not involved in dealing drugs (I have no priors) and have, in the hundreds, called me and told me that they know he was just out to get me because he is afraid I will expose the corruption he participates in daily. He is a dirty cop who plants things to arrest people and I have told him I do not approve of his behavior which unfortunately brought a bunch of trouble my way. My DNA has been here in this city for 5 generations, this is my dirt I was born here and he wasn’t. He needs to realize I’ll never leave nor come off my God blessed dirt I was born on just because an outsider/bastard slipped in here. Because of his unlikable personality he did not fit in which resulted in him going on the attack of the city’s residents while hiding behind the law. This is sad but I am innocent and the people in this little town know that I am and what this is all about.
In yet another car tax in Illinois, is the city sticker. Yup, you have to buy a sticker, every year, which you have to post on your windshield of the town you’re already paying lots of taxes too. If that wasn’t enough, if you live in Orland Park, the city sticker this year features a pro-police slogan on it. (You can get a ticket if you don’t have the sticker showing, so you just can’t leave it off your car).
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/daily-southtown/news/ct-sta-orland-park-sticker-st-0226-20170224-story.html
At least a few are objecting, to the pro-police design. Wish more would object to the stupid tax that the sticker represents.
In an interesting side note, the police chief in Orland Park is a retired secret service agent, Tim McCarthy, who was also shot with Ronald Reagan. He doesn’t let anyone forget that, even the hero’s are tired of it, and dislike him.
I am so glad I left Illinois in the rear view mirror. There are things that suck in Indiana too, but leaving Illinois was a good move back in 1997.
When I was a kid they were always neutral images and things. The closest one to a message was the town’s even anniversary year or something like that. Then when when I was an adult in another town they put cloveristic messages on them, like not to speed… but on the inside so you always had to look at it. I would use paint marker to cover the message. Then the town abolished the sticker so I’ve been free of them for awhile.
Hi Brent,
Cops have been infused with a religious/messianic perception of themselves as opposed to what they are – armed government workers.
It’s interesting the way their sense of entitlement and pusillanimity correlates with the ratcheting up of the police state and the growing hatred of cops by larger swaths of the population and not just the ne’er do well portion, either. Every one of my friends dislikes cops – and we’re college-educated, middle-aged white guys… normal dudes, in other words.
Eric,
You are much to kind. I refer to the costumed thugs as hired killers for the state for they are no more nor no less than that.
David Ward
Memphis, Tennessee
eric, I’m convinced it all, well, mostly, comes from the police union. We have a coalition in Tx. trying to reverse abuses by the court/police system. When a police chief tries to rein in bad occifers, just as the article you posted yesterday showed, the union comes to their defense and demands their re-instatement. Once again it all returns to money and power. Every time a cop crosses a line it’s a precedent for another cop to cross it even further.
I think it’s the reason in part why rural places have had much less aggressive and abusive occifers. Of course that’s something that seems to be going away also.