Officer accused of terrorizing citizens, still on force

Originally posted by semperfortis
reply to post by defcon5

 

The following is my opinion as a member participating in this discussion.

hesitate to form a decision before hearing all sides to the story.

As an ATS Staff Member, I will not moderate in threads such as this where I have participated as a member.

I'm all for hearing all sides of the story, hence the text above my avatar. However, police officer Hobbs were confronted by the news reporter, giving him the opportunity to tell his side of the story. It was quite obvious he weren't interested. As far as I can see, the news channel has given everyone a chance to give their comments on the matter, and they've done their job.

Mr. Hobbs may be a good husband, father and a friend. Apparently it's entirely another matter when he steps into the authorative role as a police officer.

If the news channel is lying, ignoring or distorting witnesses accounts that might vindicate the police officer, they've done a pretty good job of ruining a mans life and reputation. It would also make them subject to some very serious legal trouble, which I doubt is the case.

That people immediately cry "It's just one bad apples" at the thousands and thousands of stories like this, while our country assassinates and tortures American citizens without trial, always makes me shake my head. Sure, it's all an accident. Woops, only the evil people are at the top. What a nasty coincidence!!!!

Sometimes I feel bad for people like the police chief, who has to try and explain why an officer did something, but I don't have any sympathy when the chief, the one in charge, is helping to coverup the obvious brutality exhibited by this officer on over 50 occasions.

The guy, Hobbs, just seemed like an $#%*&(*(( when she tried to talk to him. And then he calls 911, which means that there is a dispatcher who is tied up on the phone, as well as an officer who could probably be doing something more productive.

My point is that he wants rights, yet doesn't afford them to anyone else. So the diabetic guy was beaten, as shown in the graphic images, while he was in a coma! Wow. It wasn't like he was hit a couple of times...he was beaten. Why would the police force attempt to protect an officer like this?

Probably because corrupt police stick up for corrupt police. I would like to know what the psychological requirements are to become a police officer.

Originally posted by JiggyPotamus

I would like to know what the psychological requirements are to become a police officer.

Here you go: link

Covers the attributes of those who enter the profession.

No real surprise.

reply to post by Droogie
I don't agree with any of his behavior ,but I have a feeling there much more to the story.It's like he has something on the chief,could this officer Hobbs have threatened him in some way?..very suspicious if you ask me..definitely something else is going on here.

I would also like to know is where are the videos?

Originally posted by Droogie

Originally posted by semperfortis
reply to post by defcon5

 

The following is my opinion as a member participating in this discussion.

.

As an ATS Staff Member, I will not moderate in threads such as this where I have participated as a member.

Mr. Hobbs may be a good husband, father and a friend. Apparently it's entirely another matter when he steps into the authorative role as a police officer.

Actually this must leach over into his personal life as well,people with anger issues just don't turn it off and on..no way I wouldn't want to be his wife or child

Originally posted by foxhoundone
reply to post by Droogie

 

To put more balance to the alleged assault issue.

From comments section.

"This is the typical news media. It only gives you half the story...... I know this officer and what I know about him is that he is probably one of the nicest people outside of work that you can meet. The part the media does not bring up is that he works in one of the most crime infested areas in Georgia and that where he works the people hate the police! Therefore, they often times violently resist those arrests. Additionally, he is a very hard working officer and along with having 20 times the number of uses of force of an average officer, he also has about 100 times more arrests than the average officer. Trust me, Clayton County Police Internal Affairs will hang you out to dry if they can. In all of these cases, they obviously found nothing that warranted disciplinary action. I am thankful that the police chief stood up for his officer"..

A first class officer by all acounts IMO.

If he does indeed have such a high arrest rate, then it will be fair to say that the dept will do everything that they possibly can to protect that officer period.

It happens all the time in the Police service. However if this was a poor performing officer, he would have been booted long ago.

An officer may be a great guy out of work, he may be a superb family man, he may well work hard generally within the department guidelines but every officer knows that you only have to seriously cross that line once and your job is at risk. At least that's how it for most officers.

Yes a proactive officer will more than likely attract a larger number of complaints than average but I honestly think in his case that is excessive.

The level of force used in my opinion is clearly over the top if the incident was as described. There are a wide of police approved restraints that could have been used in the first instance designed to control and restrain without causing injury let alone spray if it was being carried.

I have met many many officers in my career who echo the initial portrayal of this officer and beleive me there is no place for them in law enforcement. I know it, other officers know it, supervision know it yet try to stand against the dept and the officers canteen posse and see how ones career goes.

In essence it stinks!

We are supposed to protect citizens, not beat the living crap out of them. At least that's what I joined up to do.

I would also be interested to know how many years of service he has.

Originally posted by UniverSoul
i wish i was a police officer...i could break any law i want and still get paid or atleast not go to jail

funny how interchangable law is..
i go to jail for years for having a bit of weed, drawing on a wall or urinating on a statue
they get praised for shooting people
corporate slave drivers go unoticed

what is wrong with this world

edit on 30-9-2011 by UniverSoul because: (no reason given)

You are not being very realistic here. If you were caught urinating on a statute, you would not just spend years in jail, you will most likely also be a sex offender for life.

reply to post by TWILITE22


That may be right, albeit it's the more conspiratorial view of it, but lacking in evidence.

reply to post by TWILITE22


Does it have to? It may not have anything to do with anger issues. It's rather got something to do with the abuse of power.

First time poster, been lurking for a while and when a friend, with whom I had been discussing this story, sent me the link to this thread I was intrigued enough to throw my $0.02 in.
I have what many like to describe as a healthy distrust of law enforcement, I appreciate the men and women who put their lives on the line to promote public (and from a selfish stand point, personal) safety and order; many of them enter the service with a sense of public service and selfless sacrifice that I can't understand. That being said, there are many who only take on the mantel of authority in order to grab some of their own, and it is these individuals who foster the distrust that I and many others feel regarding the boys in blue.
Most of this is incredibly obvious, subjected to rational economic analysis even the most law-abiding citizens should be extremely wary of largely faceless rank and file who can swiftly put one on a fast track towards losing their liberty. This is not a situation that could be rectified even if it could be proven that 99% of LEO were noble idealogues who were only interested in Truth and Justice, the potential for those who stand in opposition to safety, sanity and justice to cause damage outweighs the desire to find a level of comfort around those who demand and deserve respect.
In reading this story, my basal reaction was one of disgust, fear and desire for retribution; the paradigm which allows some police officers to feel such disdain and indifference towards citizens (assuming that they are all criminals until proven otherwise) was indeed the same concept as that which moves me to so quickly distrust and condemn police officers in these instances, it is built from ignorance and desire for self protection.
To summarize in short the point that I have been dancing around, while I believe that it is much more likely that there has been and continues to be significant misconduct on the part of the officer, and that investigations that attempt to shove this under the rug should (and have been) be exposed and the wheels of oversight should be put in motion, I am inclined to sympathize with some of the police apologists here and would certainly like more facts before coming to any sort of definitive judgment especially due to the fact that the public outcry does seem to already exist in such a way that it is likely that sins committed in darkness would be brought to light.
Is it true that his Use of Force to Arrest ratio is actually 20% of the department average as was claimed in news story comments and earlier in this thread (inferred from claim of 100x arrest numbers and 20x use of force numbers)? That seems like an important piece of information in evaluating the numbers thrown at us without context. What were the circumstances in the case of the diabetic which received most of the treatment?
Let me be clear, I am still pretty much in the camp that believes that this is probably a bad cop, a bad guy and someone who should be instantly removed from his department until independent oversight is conducting, but as individuals who are attempting to discern truth from news stories we would be remiss to ignore the sympathetic concerns brought up earlier in this thread.