Kanadesaga

agreed. But sometimes the trickle-down can work. If DoJ went after said "criminal-cops" vigourously you would see this type of behavior decrease, I would hope.

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Free all Political prisoners. Now.

Ptech

As long as there is legal artifice such as the drug prohibition, law enforcement in this country will keep egg on its face.

The enforcment of unjust laws generates injustice and people see that injustice.

If the cops are enforcing unjust and illegal laws, they become agents of injustice and wrong.

Some cops know this and speak out, others do not.

LEAP, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, is in the first category.

Kana

Agreed. When the law is immoral, the enforcement of it will follow suit.

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Groovyville

PursuitOfHappinessParty

Whooooow way whoah there. Let's not give out this easy of a f'n pass on the jagovs. I don't give one shit about the 'justness' of the law. That's a whole other thread. This is about small dick assholes getting a pass, day in and day out, to polish their badges, strap on their guns, and go harrass citizens in any way they feel free to.

I put alot of blame on Clinton. Not all of it by a long shot, but there is culpability that needs to be examined if only for the sake of not making it partisan, as most things seem to be as of late. Clinton's 'a cop on every corner' horseshit inititiative that most if not all cities immediately abused for officer's work on special events. To qualify, however, they had to hire in 'x' number of officers. Qualified smallified, we need numbers so let's lower the bar and not look too close.

I put most of the blame on you and I. 'COPS' was a top-rated show for many years and spawned a whole genre of 'entertainment'. I defy you to watch any single episode and not see a complete trampling of at least one person's rights.
Cops talking DOWN to citizens. Innocent until proven guilty except I'm gonna put my knee in your kidney and smile for the camera. Due process, no thank you.

Smart fellas, too. Case in point? Last year I got pulled over for having one set of license plates on the front with differing numbers on the back. In Texas, you have to have both. I had just bought the car that week from an auction. Previous owner? Impounded from the local Police Department!!! Cop looked good with that egg on his face! Why do I mention this?

1) Cop threatened to throw me in jail when I refused to let them search the car. Said all automotive violations of this nature are jailable, and once I'm jailed they can tow and thus search the car.

2) Upon my querry if it wasn't an expo facto exculsionary type enforcement and thus cruel and unusual, I was ignored and asked to search my car again by cop's partner. Upon refusal, I was asked 2 questions:
A) What had I been arrested for? (Not IF, WHAT) which I aswered truthfully with complete silence
B) What was I hiding, because I wouldn't allow them to search my car?

At my answer that I was a supporter of the ACLU, as well as a registered Libertarian, I was asked (You can guess this one, can't you?):
A) What's the ACLU?
B) Why didn't I answer the question (What, by first cop, was I arrested for?)
C) What is the Libertarian Party?

My answer was A) American Civil Liberties Union. B) You implied I've been arrested which I think is denegrating. C) A political group of citizens who wish to keep the governement, such as yourselves, as univolved as possible in citizen's lives.

They blew past the ACLU as a concept beyond them, told me that I could take the 'what arrested for' question however I damned well pleased, and didn't agree with me that the police are a government agency.

I didn't get so much as a warning. No paper, no proof. This event didn't officially happen. End of story. Fuck me very much, have a shitty day.

I work in the strip club business, so this behavior by the cops only slightly suprises me as they usually leave that kind of behavior for women that can't defend themselves or be defended: Users, dancers, and escorts. I could tell you things that make this story seem lame and tame.

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Its like a finger pointing at the moon. Don't concentrate on the finger or you'll miss all that heavenly glory. - Bruce Lee in 'Enter The Dragon'

Kana

That is so true. My experience with cops has been very negative for much the same reason. There are far too many of them who like to use their authority to harass sex workers or extort sexual favours from them. And while the law-and-order types will always say, "That's just a few bad apples," it's false that there are only a few of them. There are far too many of them because we have a system which tacitly approves of their corruption. When you have seen armed men dragging a woman in a bra, thong and high heels out of a strip club in handcuffs, it should raise serious questions about who the real criminals are.

If I had my way, the cops involved in the Hope Steffey case would have faced the same criminal charges as any other group of armed men who kidnapped a woman off the streets, tore off her clothes, and left her locked in a room.

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Groovyville

PursuitOfHappinessParty

Further examples of why you must be careful when dealing with empowering the government. The idiotic drug laws leads to police endangerment. Police endangerment (don't wish to endanger police!) leads to 'no-knock' rules. No-knock rules are primed for abuses and mistakes, but HEY! Who cares if a few citizen's get hurt?

Way too many little red baloons for a country that boasts "Home of the Free".

__________________
Its like a finger pointing at the moon. Don't concentrate on the finger or you'll miss all that heavenly glory. - Bruce Lee in 'Enter The Dragon'

Ptech

Jeez, I'm glad that wasn't directed at me!

I agree completely with what you say, and I sure wasn't trying to let the cops off the hook for their behavior.

My grandfather was a cop, and I have a few good friends who are cops, so I know that by and large their intentions are good.

And I'm back to my original point that poor law, as Kana agreed to in general terms, can have terrible side effects for society. Unintended consequences, as they say.

And the jury just acquitted the cops in New Yawk for the murder of the young black. The jury must have been bought, or perhaps just racist.

PursuitOfHappinessParty

Not at you, naturally.
Do not get me wrong, there are great numbers of caring, motivated, and professional acting policemen. When doing legitimate police activities they can literally be saviors.

You are both also quite correct in that the increasingly focus of their jobs is vice and that spawns more of a scenario for police abuses.

We three's views on vice laws are consistent and well known

In these cases, however, I pin the tail on the jack-ass individual cops. I pin it on whichever one was the ranking officer. I pin it on the Sherriff for defending and excusing something he knows was a wrong. Something he knows goes against his own office's procedures.

BTW, looking at the tape I'm not quite buying the woman's story either. Having delt with prima-donna, drunk, battling women on way to often of a basis I can definitely spot certain qualifiers telling me this woman was out of control and being as uncooperative as she could possibly be. The strip search's existence was mandated when she flippantly answered the suicide question, which legally left the police responsible for her hanging herself with her clothing. It's the guy's participation that I question, tho there may be a reason such as a lack of female officers. That wasn't the reason given, which is why I censor the Sherriff's office's response.

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Its like a finger pointing at the moon. Don't concentrate on the finger or you'll miss all that heavenly glory. - Bruce Lee in 'Enter The Dragon'