Police Brutality

Someone just told me they believe that 85% of the Police are racists and/or "bad cops" who go too far.

Any takes on this?

I would love to see where they took this poll.

Sounds like a boat load of # to me

Originally posted by kramtronix
Someone just told me they believe that 85% of the Police are racists and/or "bad cops" who go too far.

Any takes on this?

I used to not believe that, but now I am starting to think differently. I was a victim of police abuse back in September, the 1st to be exact. I was driving by my old high school, which I just graduated from the the June before, c/o 2003, and I pull into the side parking lot to make a U-Turn. We have gates at that school, but they are always open, and there is NO "No-Trespassing" signs whatsoever. The fours years I attended there, no one ever said it was trespassing to drive onto the school grounds after dark, because as a matter of fact, people do it all the time. I saw them doing it a week after my incident. I pulled in and a uniformed police officer was sitting there, in a marked squad car, and of course I drove right by him, figuring he was guarding against vandalism, and I wasn't doing anything wrong. Well what do you know, he puts the spotlight on me, and drives behind me engaging his emergency lights, and I proceed to stop. My friend, known as Big Red, (btw, both of us are white, and so is everyone involved in this incident) steps out of the vehicle with his hands raised explaining to the officer that we are making a U-Turn. He didn't know to stay seated in the vehicle, because he hasn't taken the course to get his liscense yet. The officer pull out his gun and starts screaming like a maniac for him to sit back down, and he promptly does so. Meanwhile I am on my cell phone with a friend, who just happened to have studied law for a few years. The officer walks up, and asks what I am doing, I explained I was making a u-turn, and nothing more. I stayed polite as I could the entire time. He then says: "Well, you know you're trespassing", I told him I honestly didn't know that, I had attended that school, and had never heard that before. He then asks for my ID, I hand him my drivers license, and my Senior Student ID to prove to him I had attended that school. He then walks back, and ask me to step out of the vehicle. He then asked me if I drank, I said no. He has me stand on one foot, counting 1-One Thousand-1, all the way to 1-One Thousand -30. Then he asked me to recite the alphabet from D to T. Then he asks for me to take a breathalyzer, it comes out 0.000. I passed it all. Meanwhile a second officer arrives. The 1st cop then asks if I have any dangerous weapons in my car. Which first of all he has no right asking unless he has reasonable suspicion. I replied no. He then asks to search it, I told him I just cleaned it, and asked if he had to tear it apart, he say:"Well yeah". I then asked: "Do you have any reasonable suspicion to search my car?" He says: "Well then, how about this?" He then arrested me, I said "What if I changed my mind?", he said "It's too late". Funny when you think about it, he arrests me, a 155 lb kid, and my 330lb friend who started to walk towards him, isn't bothered. Of course he never read me my Miranda Rights. But then again, he never booked me or took me away, I just stood there for 2 hours, meanwhile my father is trying to reach me, but fortunately when they hung up my phone, my friend called my father and let him know what was up. They stood me against the car for the entire time, and of course when I stood up they all jumped like a bunch of scared pigs. A Third officer, from the Town arrived, but they told him to leave, these were county cops, on county school property, but when a third county cop arrived, they didn't tell him to leave. I was suspicious as to their intent at that point. Needless to say, they tore the vehicle apart, I had a pellet gun, un -loaded, locked in my glove compartment. I was transporting it back from the store. The officer mocked me about having that, saying: "Ooh what do we have here, we know you were doing something wrong now". I told him I was lawfully transporting it. They proceeded to scream at me, and act like fools. Then the 1st cop searches my body, my pockets and all that. He finds mediciation I need for a health problem. I explained to him every pill, and what it was for, and even offered to give him the doc's number, he simply asked me : "Do you like to get high?, Do you ever get high?, When was the last time you got high?" He said he was taking one pill to test it for ecstacy, and if it came back positive, he'd charge me with a class 6 Felony, for Drug Trafficking. I said I didn't have a problem with it, becuase I knew what it was. Which of course pissed me off beyond belief. He then yells when he finds I have a pocket knife on me, even thought the blade is under 3 1/2 Inches long. I also had a bandanna in my pocket, because it was around 90Degrees that day, and he pulled it out asking: "What are you, in some sorta white suburban gang?" I said no, and laughed, because he doesn't know me. And he harassed me about my pants, and my shoes, and style of dress for another 15 -20 minutes. he was trying to bring up a charge of weapons possession on school grounds, but he couldn't find the law, because it's not a state code, but rather a county one. I even asked him point blank, if I knew I was doing something illegal, why would I have driven right by a clearly marked squad car. He did issue me a summons to appear in court on behalf of Trespassin on School property after dark. I then left, but only after my father had been calling the station, if he hadn't, I don't know what would have happened. The officer screamed at me before I drove off, saying everything was "bullsh*t" and he could have shot me if I pointed the gun at him, which of course I didn't. I never even touched it. I went to court, my lawyer is a State Delegate. It could have been settled outside of court, but there is such little crime here, the police love making money off of stupid sh*t. I went there, and my lawyer made a deal with the Prosecuter, so I had 50 Hours Community Service, and in 6 months, which will be near the end of March, they will dismiss the case, and erase it off my record. So I figured I woulda take it, rather than face the chance of having it on my record. I am still however in the process if getting both officers fired, and also have their commanding Leutinant Fired, he came to my house to talk it over with my family when I wasn't here, and he made some disturbing remarks, my mother asked :"Do you arrest everyone that makes a U-Turn?", he replied: "No we only do that to Blacks and Jews", and of course there was a girl in the house at that point in time who happens to be Jewish. My mother kicked him out, and told him not to come back. The next day my father met with the Station Captain, and they hit it off, and the Leutinant apologized multiple times. Most likely because he heard of my father who is involved in local and broad politics and was once the head of the Community Government, not to mention he has more damn connections that the President, including the Boston Director of the FBI. The officer who arrested me talked with my father, and of course attempted to sound as polite as possible. However when the Captain viewed the tape, he made numerous remarks on how badly the officer screwed up, and how many procedures he broke, not to mention my 4th Amendment Right against Unlawful Search and Seizure (Not to mention the fact that the school has a sign stating that by entering a school zone, at least at my school, you are in a sense signing an affidavit allowing the authorities to search your vehicle, however for all four years I went to the school, it was covered with spray-paint, not to mention the fact that the school code states they must have REASONABLE CAUSE to search ur vehicle, I find the school posting the sign(s) in direct violation of not only the 4th Amendment, but the County School system as well.) I found this remarkable, due to the fact a Commander rarely admits to his officers making mistakes. At this particular point in time, I am attempting to get a hold of the ACLU to press this case farther, and now the county where I live has a new police chief who was once a victim of police abuse herself. We have 1,000,000 people in this county, and 1,300 Sworn officers, and there are roughly 30 Homicides a year, at least ones reported. I can not say I hate all police, because I know some that have been like best friends to me. However, most police here are white people that were raised in this area before all the immigrants and diversity arrived, and they now resent it, and thus became police officers to try and get "pay-back" if you will. Right now my lawyer is down in the House Assembly passing an Amendment named after me, due to the fact State law does not require a sign stating that you are trespassing on school property to enforce it, the new amendment states that you can't be held accountable for trespassing, if there is no clearly posted sign stating it. I hope this is the beginning of providing citizens more rights, and that is why I can not, and will not let this abuse of authority slide. The same day I was in court, this particular officer had four other cases, with the kids reporting even more abuse than I faced. ANyone who has any advice to offer me, or simply their opinion, I will be more than glad to hear about it. I'm not sure if I can say 85% of cops are bad, but just like any job, you have your good ones, and your bad ones. Sorry for such a long post, but this seriosuly sparked my interest. Thanks for reading.

[Edited on 2-3-2004 by TheAgentNineteen]

[Edited on 2-3-2004 by TheAgentNineteen]

That sucks, I would have been on the phone to my lawyer so fast it would make his head spin.

But I think it is a little over zealous to say that 85% of cops are overly brutal and or ass holes.

The police in this country can only reflect the society it comes out of, and I don't think 85% of Americans are that way.

Originally posted by KrazyJethro
That sucks, I would have been on the phone to my lawyer so fast it would make his head spin.

But I think it is a little over zealous to say that 85% of cops are overly brutal and or ass holes.

The police in this country can only reflect the society it comes out of, and I don't think 85% of Americans are that way.

Yeah, I feel you on that one. It's like you live in a neighborhood, say all black, and you're always seeing drug dealing, and people getting shot, maybe the majority of people in your area, which happens to be mostly black, are dope pushers, but it sure as hell doesn't mean that the majority of blacks are pushing drugs.

Yup, if you get 5 stories in 10 days about kids and weapons in schools, then it must be an epidemic.

ALL kids are violent and want to kill.

Bring out the fill in the blank extremists

I have already posted to this and the post is gone so I guess I will repeat it.

I think 85% might be a bit high but there are way too many and part of the problem is the us vs them mentality among both the police and the people. In some neighborhoods the police are looked upon, with some justifacation. as an occupation force kinda like a foriegn army.

The police on the other hand deal with people at there worse on a day to day basis which tends to make them look at us all as thieves, rapists, murderers and drug dealers.

This leads to a situation like I saw in the army where you look the other way to all but the most extreme actions buy your squad memembers because the man beating that pow is the guy who saved your life yesterday and may do so again tommorow.

I do not see much that can be done other than promoting more closeness between the police and community and neither are really open to this idea.

And than you have a fairly small % of police that are totally corrupt, no better than those they are suspossed to protect us from that, hide behind the blue shield.

Again I can not see a soultion other than the police policing themselves, a job they are hardly adapt at.

I have a brother-in-law, two nephews and an uncle that are cops and I have see them go from the best intentions to an outlook not much different than those the chase......sad.

The answer?

Who knows

From Pure Cop, by Connie Fletcher

'You'll find that a copper's prejudice is always directed at the poorest segment of the society where he serves.
New York cops think Puerto Ricans are the scum of the earth. Out West, Southwest, the coppers know nothing about Puerto Ricans, blacks, Appalachian whites. They hate American Indians. In the Northwest, there are cops who hate Eskimos. And when you get coppers together, each one says to the cops from other parts of the country, "Listen, you think Puerto Ricans are bad ..."'

Personally, I don't think that msot cops are bad. Maybe a little dirty, but not that bad. I eman these guys go out and risk their lives everyday on the street, and yet somehow they have to support themselves. It's not much of a surprise that some turn to corruption to get 'what they deserve'.

DE

It's not that they risk their lives. It's the fact that they face crap all day, they are bound to get slanted.

I'll give it to you like this. When I was in the Marine Corps, I was stationed for a while up in Keflavic Iceland. In Iceland, it seems that everyone is a drunk all the time, and rude.

Are they all? No way. But I mostly hung out at the bars or clubs when I was there (almost everyone between 16 and 35 is out drunk at the clubs on the weekend).

I came to the point to where I hated them. I could not stand a single one of them. They were rude, pushy, always wanted to fight, but couldn't.

Anyway, it wasn't until I went to a different part, that I saw the natives that were not like that.

We're having a problem in Toronto with "Racial Profilling". Big news. The police department is on damage control over this one. I don't think the majority of cops are like that but if it is happening every cop will be examined.

I was crusing along the other day and saw this young black fellow with an afro the size of a beach ball pass beside me in his car. Then later I noticed a sherriff deputy come easing along behind him and suddenly there went the blue lights. The guy obviously wasn't speeding I guess his appearance triggered a licence plate search or something.

I know there are some bad storys on cops but a lot of times cops get shot, cut up or beat up trying to do thier job. I sure wouldn't want the job. One ex- cop I know took up preaching in our church in fact and shared some of his storys in the pull pit.

He said one Sunday morning that he pulled this guy over one time for weaving. Said he was about 6'5 350 lbs and told him," I need to see your license and proof of insurance please. " The guy took his licence out of his billfold and put them in his shirt pocket and said," Take em". The cop said," UH excuse me just a second " he backs up towards the rear of the car and got on his radio and said ," UH I think I'm gonna need some backup out here on the by pass just out of town, there is a big guy out here not wanting to surrender his license peacfully". So he waits for an eternity it seems like and finally the two smallest guys on the force show up. They were the only ones available as there had been a bad wreck elsewhere occupying everone else. The cop weighed about 240 lbs. himself and was on the swat team too, so he was no slouch. He said the three of them like to have never got that man subdued and in the patrol car. That was in the seventys nowadays they would probably kill a guy like that or beat him nearly to death.

It doesn't always go the cops way.
I imagine its the few nights like that one that give the cops an attitude, they get tired of fooling with people like that. And then everyone hates them.

Another cop I know retired after nearly dying from a gun shot not to mention a badly scarred up body. And the fact that he couldn't do his job. Appearantly there are some people you are supposed to leave alone when you are a cop. He didn't like that, he joined the police because he thought he could make a difference.

I hate it that you had a bad experience man.

[Edited on 6-2-2004 by TgSoe]

It's been a while since I last checked out this thread. Yeah, I wish I never had the experience, but believe it or not, I just had a good one a couple of weeks ago when I needed some help. I know there's a reason for everything, just still trying to figure out the reason behind this one. Right now, I'm in the process of taking care of the cop, fortunately, the new Police Chief who just took her position this February, happened to once be a victim of Abuse, and Sexual Harassment within the Force. I have a feeling that things may work out for the best. I'll keep everyone up-dated on how this goes. Yes, I know some very sincere, and caring police who truly strive to make a change. That is what makes me pursue the ousting of this one bad cop, just so the others can do their job. Everyone, keep your fingers crossed that this all works out.

Those numbers do seem extreme, but I can relate them to my personal experience.

I had a very brief career in Southern law enforcement. I studied Criminal Justice/Forensics in college and worked 18 months as a deputy sheriff to try to pay my dues and get started in the field. I just could not take the environment. While I did meet a few great cops who were on the job for the right reasons, they were the exception. I have never encountered a more racist, sexist, homophobic, ignorant and uneducated group of people in my entire life. The "us vs. them" mentality was rampant. I don't regret the experience; I learned a lot, but I had to get out of there lest I become what I so despised. I hope this isn't representative of law enforcement nationwide.

Las Vegas woman cop in action. Click

......I don't know if she's racist, but I know that she's stupid and VERY dangerous......

But you can see a racist black cop mistreating a poor white citizen. ( What ? When a white cop is mistreating a black, this cop is allways racist. So I just thought when a black cop is mistreating a white, then this black cop is racist too. )