Georgia (the Country) Fires All Its Cops

Police corruption world wide is something most politicians do not want to touch because in some cases the politicians will not survive their term in office.

A 2013 survey by the anti-corruption group Transparency International reported out of 144 countries listed way to many were suffering police corruption. Whether via police bribes and shake downs or just plain criminal activity either way citizens were aware, yet felt helpless and powerless to effect change..

I remember listening to a retired Las Vegas Mayor on C2C talking about in his younger days (I believe it was Chicago) where he owned a very successful bar and dance hall. The cops would come buy every month and request their fair share.. So just don't think the problems are all "over there" for they are not.

Where I presently live the cops are a little better; they give you an account to mail your money to. Don't do it and get harassed every night until you lose all your business.. Such is the world in many countries.

Now enter Georgia

www.cracked.com...

The Plan:

There is nothing worse than a corrupt police officer -- just look at the comment section under any taser video on YouTube. Unfortunately for the citizens of the country of Georgia, that was pretty much the only flavor their traffic cops came in. In 2004, things had gotten so bad that the newly elected President Mikheil Saakashvili made it his mission to stop the police from harassing his people.

Saakashvili didn't mess around, either. He fired all the heads of law enforcement and threatened that any traffic cop caught harassing civilians, taking bribes or generally behaving all uppity would be fired or arrested. The police force scoffed at the attempts of this puny "president" person and behaved exactly like they always had, confident that Saakashvili wouldn't touch them. So, the very next day after this announcement, when a whopping 15,000 cops were caught taking bribes, Saakashvili fired every single one of them.

So the threat was real and guess what, he ended up firing another 15,000 for a total of 30,000 corrupt cops.. I would say they had a corrupt police force... nothing new most already knew the cops were not their friends in Georgia.

Saakashvili's administration quickly realized this was because it had been the cops causing most of the trouble all along. A remnant from the Soviet era, they'd treated the roads as their personal piggy bank, administering their very own brand of expensive justice at will and causing mob-style chaos as they did. When they were taken out of the equation, not even a hint of disorder was left because they had been the disorder.

It took three whole months to find enough reliable replacements, but with some help from the United States in recruiting and training the new police force, Georgia got back to normal.

Hopefully when they say normal in the article they mean effective and a just police force.

I received a ticket while going to a golf tournament a couple of months ago. I was following several cars going 120kph down a major highway. The speed limit was 100kph.. The cops are very good at catching people (when they work) so all of us got pulled over at a highway check point.. No police cruisers or high speed chases in this country S.E. Asia ... they just tag you and down the road there is a police check point where if you are an offender you get pulled aside. I paid the equivalent of about $6 cash and was on my way along with everyone else who got tagged.. If it would have been a real ticket by law it would have been $12 and a receipt..

Some police are paid so badly (hey, but it is a lifetime job until retirement) that without the graft and corruption they could not live in a status or circumstance they feel they deserve with what being police and all that... I just thought this approach and article was worth a read and interesting..

Good for Georgia. I really hope it works out for them.

I'm amazed at the mention of $6 and $12 tickets. My last speeding ticket (and the only one on my record) cost me two days in court and $278, for doing 13mph over the speed limit...

a reply to: 727Sky

Now we just need to fire all the dinosaurs roaming congress and the political soap box, then we just might be on our way to some real change...

That's an incredible ballsy move, I salute Saakashvili.

a reply to: 727Sky

Indeed very interesting. Thanks

Don't think this was just about police corruption, this was about gaining control and stability in a country repeatedly threatened by Russia and constantly struggling in a region of ethnic divides.

This is one of those countries with DEEP nationalistic, racist, religious and political divides. It's a tinderbox ready to go off, and he knew that the police would likely not be on his side (given that the nationalistic far-right mentality in many police forces in Blatic states makes them instantly a threat to any government wanting to move away from the Kremlin).

The corruption was a big problem, but this wasn't only about corruption on the roads, this was about removing a threat to political control.

I'm not saying it was the wrong thing to do, it was absolutely the right thing in a country where Russia could come in at any moment and pay off the military and police to look the other way while it snatched up swathes of land.

Not sure what to make of what goes on in that area of the world . I see he is now in Ukraine and there seems to be no lack of corruption there as well . I wonder about this piece about his history .

General's Office summonses.

“In recent months Saakashvili repeatedly refused to appear for an interrogation as a witness on a number of criminal cases, and then he refused to be questioned remotely via Skype,” the court said over the weekend. “In such cases, under Georgia’s legislation, the Prosecutor General's Office has a right to seek a preventive punishment for persons who evade participation in the interrogation, which was done."

The Prosecutor General’s Office launched a criminal case against Saakashvili after he failed to appear before investigators for questioning July 28.

"I will obviously not take part in this farce," Saakashvili, who became president in 2004 after the virtually bloodless "Rose Revolution," wrote on his Facebook page.

Charges against Saakashvili, officially brought July 29, include dispersal of a peaceful rally on November 7, 2007, an illegal raid on local Imedi TV on the same day and seizing the property of businessman Badri Patarkatsishvili

www.rt.com...

a reply to: the2ofusr1

One thing to consider... something my grand daddy once said... When you are number one or a leader someone is always willing to take pot shots at you... Especially if you are a possible threat to the status quo.

a reply to: 727Sky

Seems that we usually get a choice of getting behind the lesser of two evils when it comes to politics .same old same old and although the names change the status-quo goes on . This is a extensive look at Georgia and some of the claims and history .Potemkin Georgia: Exposing the Lies of the Saakashvili PR Machine www.unz.com... Lots of good comments to ponder as they bring in the surrounding countries and actors .

a reply to: 727Sky

Great story, S/F. But Georgia is much smaller in both land mass and population than that of the USA. In fact, Georgia (country) is about 2,000 sq miles larger than West Virginia with approx. 4.5 million people, close to the same population as South Carolina.

As of 2008, SC only had approx. 12,000 law enforcement (rounding up) across 272 agencies.

I'd say that if Georgia needed 30,000+ cops for 4.5 million people compared to South Carolina's 12,000 (prob. closer to 15,000 now) for 4.8 million people then there was a serious problem.

a reply to: 727Sky

That's an awesome move by the president, but being the realist that I am, how long will it take for the police force there to go right back to how they were before this mass firing?

a reply to: WCmutant

In many countries it is all about nepotism... who you know and what kind of connections your friends and family have for a government job. When jobs are scarce who do you want to work for if your goal is to survive.. Government is the only answer in some cases.

Police, Military, and well paid bureaucrats are considered the top dogs..

Many police departments make up for their low pay by graft and shaking down the population.. This particular counties police (where I live) are ranked somewhere around 113 out of 144... Pretty bad showing... but I don't fear the police here and most are very polite in my experience; no puff up and ego crap from my dealings with them..

But I don't own a bar or business where someone can request tea money either.. The friends I know who do have businesses ....well it is just the cost of doing business... if you don't want future problems...

a reply to: 727Sky

Those cops are stupid. They left a paper trail by giving accounts to deposit "their fair share". Sue the hell out of the scumbag losers.

a reply to: 727Sky

I understand what you are saying, but 30,000+ cops for a 4.5 million population is crazy, esp. when you compare it to SC's ~15,000 cops and 4.8 million population.

a reply to: WCmutant

And think about this, you're assuming that the 30,000 who were fired make up the entire force. I am thinking that there are potentially an equal number that were not fired, making the total police force to be somewhere around 60,000.

That's mind boggling when you compare to similar number in the US as you have with South Carolina.

It was like a national holiday for the criminal element in the Country of Georgia then.

Watch for looting and such.

originally posted by: WCmutant
a reply to: 727Sky

I understand what you are saying, but 30,000+ cops for a 4.5 million population is crazy, esp. when you compare it to SC's ~15,000 cops and 4.8 million population.

Sounds like my city. Population of about 90,000, and something like 500 cops. Last I heard, they were looking to hire about 90 more too. You can't drive for five minutes anywhere without seeing at least one, and usually several.

They have a little over 300 brand new Chargers, probably about 50 SUVs, a brand new helicopter with a few million dollars worth of night vision and infrared imagers, two dozen or so ATVs, god knows how many unmarked cars (everything from junker RVs to brand new Corvettes, about a dozen Segues, half a dozen SUVs fitted with radar and cameras that they just park along random roads to issue tickets (cause red light cameras aren't enough), and at least one hovercraft (despite the fact that there's not a body of water in the city big enough for it to fit in.

Needless to say, I'm not a fan.
/rant

Too bad more don't follow the same path that have such issues. How about firing the corrupt bankers and politicians

originally posted by: WCmutant
a reply to: 727Sky

Great story, S/F. But Georgia is much smaller in both land mass and population than that of the USA. In fact, Georgia (country) is about 2,000 sq miles larger than West Virginia with approx. 4.5 million people, close to the same population as South Carolina.

As of 2008, SC only had approx. 12,000 law enforcement (rounding up) across 272 agencies.

I'd say that if Georgia needed 30,000+ cops for 4.5 million people compared to South Carolina's 12,000 (prob. closer to 15,000 now) for 4.8 million people then there was a serious problem.

True or that they were creating a serious problem with having too many.

originally posted by: TinfoilTP
It was like a national holiday for the criminal element in the Country of Georgia then.

Watch for looting and such.

Actually for the three month period it took to train and deploy the new hires, according to the article, all was peachy keen..

I guess you could say, "Not all countries have citizens who rape, pillage, and plunder when the cops are not around or the lights go out".