TradeTheBeal! Posted July 31, 2015 Share Posted July 31, 2015 Don't get yourself bogged down about unions. Abuses of power by authority figures such as this frequently occur even when there is no Union of any kind. This has nothing to do unions...at all...ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Jones Posted July 31, 2015 Share Posted July 31, 2015 (edited) I guess innocent until proven guilty does not exist anymore. And, irrelevant as to actual guilt or innocence. As time passes no one is going to want to be a cop. Maybe people could police yourselves and we debate it on here. I will add, these videos should never have been released the prosecutors should have acted professional, done their job, and shut up. Again, irrelevant as to actual guilt or innocence. Edited July 31, 2015 by Fred Jones Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PokerPacker Posted July 31, 2015 Share Posted July 31, 2015 Innocent until proven guilty is for the criminal courts, not the court of public opinion. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TradeTheBeal! Posted July 31, 2015 Share Posted July 31, 2015 Guilt or innocence will be determined in the court of law, sir. Which is a far better place for it than the side of the road. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gamebreaker Posted July 31, 2015 Share Posted July 31, 2015 I guess innocent until proven guilty does not exist anymore. And, irrelevant as to actual guilt or innocence. As time passes no one is going to want to be a cop. Maybe people could police yourselves and we debate it on here. I will add, these videos should never have been released the prosecutors should have acted professional, done their job, and shut up. Again, irrelevant as to actual guilt or innocence. Well he's a free man, at home, alive. So yeah, that innocent until proven guilty is working just fine. I wish he could've used some of that discretion when he pulled Dubose over. I'm hoping people who really want to uphold the law and stop injustice will be the types who apply for police departments, and not bullies. But I don't think those qualities is what these departments are looking for, honestly. I know two guys who've never been arrested, don't have any type of record whatsoever, passed all the tests both physical and mental and were never told why they didn't get hired. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DogofWar1 Posted July 31, 2015 Share Posted July 31, 2015 I guess innocent until proven guilty does not exist anymore. And, irrelevant as to actual guilt or innocence. As time passes no one is going to want to be a cop. Maybe people could police yourselves and we debate it on here. I will add, these videos should never have been released the prosecutors should have acted professional, done their job, and shut up. Again, irrelevant as to actual guilt or innocence. The prosecutors were being hit with about 10 FOIA requests all at once, the video was coming out one way or another. The prosecutors probably realized that this cop is terrible, and they didn't want their office to even have the appearance of trying to protect this guy. They saved themselves the embarrassment both of having a court rule against them, AND of being the DAs who tried to keep a very clear and obvious video of a cop murdering someone under wraps. Also, innocent until proven guilty is an important standard, one police have abused terribly. This guy will be tried in court, and probably found guilty, and the standard will be innocent until proven guilty. Problem is, how many cops have abused and murdered people and gotten a damn slap on the wrist because it was the cop's word against a "criminal," or the cop's word against a dead man. Tensing deserves to be utterly crucified in the court of public opinion. If we had less clear evidence, sure, let's reserve judgment, but holy crap we got him shooting the guy in the head, cold-blooded, on film. Like, we all basically watched a snuff film right there. He'll get his day in court. He should also be treated like the garbage he is in the meantime. Also, the "no one will want to be a cop" line is silly. So we should put up with cops violating our rights and murdering people so that people will keep taking the job? Maybe they should advertise it as a perk of the job; "after 3 years of service, you get two paid weeks of vacation and one 'beat up a minority for no reason' get out of jail free card." Cops brought this enforcement down upon themselves with these kinds of antics. There are plenty of cops who don't do this kind of stuff. They admittedly defend these killer cops too much, but remove the truly bad cops, and you've still got plenty of decent cops left. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sisko Posted July 31, 2015 Share Posted July 31, 2015 Don't get yourself bogged down about unions. Abuses of power by authority figures such as this frequently occur even when there is no Union of any kind. This has nothing to do unions...at all...ever. I'd beg to differ to a point. I'm not a demonize all unions kind of guy but I do think in some cases they do more harm than good. Teachers unions and FOPs seem to be really good at helping keep bad eggs employed. I guess innocent until proven guilty does not exist anymore. And, irrelevant as to actual guilt or innocence. As time passes no one is going to want to be a cop. Maybe people could police yourselves and we debate it on here. I will add, these videos should never have been released the prosecutors should have acted professional, done their job, and shut up. Again, irrelevant as to actual guilt or innocence. As much as I viscerally dislike cops, even I can understand and accept that they are a necessary part of society. However it's a logical fallacy to think that the police can't do their jobs without the ability to disrespect/brutalize/kill people with absolute impunity. That's nonsense on it's face and yet that's go-to argument for many of them and their supporters. Does not acting like a putz 24/7 make their jobs a little more difficult and a bit more dangerous? Perhaps. However, that's what they're getting paid for. It is a moderately risky job and many of them, instead of accepting the risk seem to think that a mitigation strategy of brutalizing/shooting first to effectively drop their risk to almost zero is acceptable. Sorry, but that's cowardly and most cops have been trained to be cowardly. The equivalent would be for firefighters to refuse to enter a building to rescue someone until the fire is 100% extinguished. That drops their risk to near zero but it kind of makes them just a little less valuable at what they do. Any garden variety vigilante could run the streets, pick people out at random and then beat the hell out of them (or worse) when they *GASP* have the nerve to demand their constitutional rights be respected. We don't need cops that act that way. I want those types to not be cops at all. Zero tolerance. Ditto that for the cop that thinks it's OK to protect that kind of cop. Conversely, I do want cops who are committed to doing their jobs without the "extracurriculars". Hell, let's change that to just a modicum of the extracurriculars. After all, I get that they're human and that they will go a little too far sometimes in error, or in the heat of the moment. Forgive me but I just don't think that's unreasonable or is asking too much of people to whom we give the kind of power they have. As with hazing, the frequency and severity of the going "a little" too far has gotten way out of hand to the point that for some cops it's the norm, not the exception. They need to start serving real time for this crap. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skinsmarydu Posted July 31, 2015 Share Posted July 31, 2015 Agree, Sisko. And I'm sorry they get paid crap, they all complain about that...but I can attest to a particular county here that have most cops on a serious power trip. If you've got the power, why complain about the money? They get theirs, from searches & seizures. And most of this particular county's residents have no idea how seriously disenfranchised they are...just by the police. It's disgusting. If they do their job (protect & serve), they won't get into trouble for not doing it (harassing & shooting potential criminals). 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popeman38 Posted July 31, 2015 Share Posted July 31, 2015 We shouldn't lose sight that another officer witnessed the whole thing and basically repeated the fabricated story. Tensing himself is in the 10-20% of bad cops. The other officer who was there at the scene watching and lying is part of the probably 60-70% out of the remaining 80% that would never kill someone that coldly themselves, but also isn't exactly working to stop/prevent the violence from/turn in these guys. Just to make sure I understand: 10-20% of cops are bad and will kill someone just because. 60-70% of cops are ok cops who will cover up the 10-20% bad cops. 10-20%of cops are actually good cops. Is that how you view cops? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Destino Posted July 31, 2015 Share Posted July 31, 2015 If good cop means actually taking action and speaking to the proper authorities about other cops behaving wrongly... 10-20% seems overly optimistic. The retaliation stories out there are pretty grim and unions very obviously not on board with holding police officers accountable. If we define bad cops as senseless killers than 10-20% is absurdly high. 1% would be a gross exaggeration. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DogofWar1 Posted July 31, 2015 Share Posted July 31, 2015 (edited) Just to make sure I understand: 10-20% of cops are bad and will kill someone just because. 60-70% of cops are ok cops who will cover up the 10-20% bad cops. 10-20%of cops are actually good cops. Is that how you view cops? Reasonably close. It's an approximation. Destino makes a good point about how even 10-20% is probably too high when it comes to cops actually cracking down on other cops because of unions and pressure from above. I hope it's not too high, but it might be. With regard to bad, it's not just killing. It's also violating people's rights at the drop of a hat. The number of killer cops is small, but the number that will gladly escalate a situation and violate someone's constitutional rights while beating them senseless (for a senseless reason), is definitely a sizable minority. Of course, cops are very rarely punished for violating people's rights if someone doesn't end up seriously injured or dead. The remedy for an illegal search is that the person they searched gets charges dropped (if any charges come up in the first place), and the cop goes right back onto the street, probably doing it again. Edited July 31, 2015 by DogofWar1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Jones Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 Appears my comments caused a stir. Let's start with, "he's home and alive". So, he got out on bail, no other criminals in history ever got out on bail. What does that have to do with his day in court where a jury will decide his future. If they convict him (not saying he is or is not guilty) he will probably go to jail for some long period of time. This won't bring Dubose back, but I guess some justice will be served. It would be great if all police officers upheld the law, were not bullies, did not lie, showed respect for life, etc. But, unfortunately, some are just like the pieces of garbage that work in very other job in America. Because , corruption doesn't occur anywhere else as is implied by the responses. Everyone gets treated fairly in their job. Now, I am not implying this was not a tragic incident, but that to be critical of cops one must look in the mirror first. Moving on to the FOIA requests. I don't know what FOIA laws are in that state, but here in good old Virginia (home of the Redskins) - the DA and police can simply ignore the requests as they are part of an active criminal felony investigation. The same goes with the 911 tapes and copies of the incident reports. Not covering anything up, just being fair to all those citizens that are charged with crimes to have their day in court. Would not be fair to them, and in many cases the victim, to show them to the public. But, since a cop was involved, all of a sudden the tapes can be released. And for the record, once the video is presented as evidence in court, it can be accessed by the public. Unfortunately, many cops have abused their power and have gotten away with it. But, not all cops that were investigated for a crime were guilty. I wish we did not have all these incidents in the last year as it paints a negative picture. The DA is going to present all the evidence in court and hopefully a jury will impartially come to a verdict, guilty or not. I say guilty or not, because in just about 99 percent of the time, what is presented in the media, especially social media, is usually not the complete story. Regardless of what the video shows, I have seen videos that clearly show, as standalone evidence, a cop gun down a subject. However, a second video, that more clearly shows what happened reverses the initial opinion in favor of the cop. Not saying that will happen in this case, but I get tired when just one side of the story is presented in the media. I also get tired of prosecutors running their mouths showboating. Moving on to "As much as I viscerally dislike cops, even I can understand and accept that they are a necessary part of society." Wow, prejudice much. Please, if you ever need police for some reason, just save the cops the trouble and don't call. Heaven forbid they have to come and save you from some bad person. And, reference this comment about cops "disrespect/brutalize/kill people with absolute impunity", why would someone want to be a cop when they have citizens that make comments like this, Continuing with "It is a moderately risky job and many of them, instead of accepting the risk seem to think that a mitigation strategy of brutalizing/shooting first to effectively drop their risk to almost zero is acceptable. Sorry, but that's cowardly and most cops have been trained to be cowardly. " All the cops that get killed in the line of duty might disagree with "moderately risky job" if they were still alive to argue. I mean, no cop ever gets attacked by a crazy person with an ax while simply minding their own business. Or the times they are ambushed by someone with a rifle responding to a call. Perhaps a little research into the countless posted articles on the ingenious ways you can hide a weapon in almost anything. Because, everyone shows great respect for the law and has no reason to run, flee or do anything not to go to jail. Politeness by cops will always make a bad guy just turn in their weapon and go to jail peacefully. Also, according to the NRA, everyone in America should have a gun to protect themselves. I assume that means to protect against all the bad people that inhabit society. Or, they could just be brainwashing everyone, but my point is clear. Lastly, after writing the above, the "no one will want to be a cop" line is silly" comment just seems so silly. "Any garden variety vigilante could run the streets, pick people out at random and then beat the hell out of them (or worse) when they *GASP* have the nerve to demand their constitutional rights be respected." Again, you have the given right in this country not to call 911 if you are in trouble. Just deal with it yourself if cops are that offensive to you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TradeTheBeal! Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 So.....now you're kinda, sorta cool with this officer having his day in court even though nothing will change and it doesn't really matter. But, at the same time, you're really butthurt and sad about a bunch of things that are only tangentially related to this case while having no real sadness or emotion about the guy who was shot in the head. Cause "everyone gets treated fairly at their jobs" except...you? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gamebreaker Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 That was a really long-winded way of saying I care more about this ex-cop's constitutional rights than the man this ex-cop killed for no reason at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Major Harris Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 (edited) Of course, cops are very rarely punished for violating people's rights if someone doesn't end up seriously injured or dead. The remedy for an illegal search is that the person they searched gets charges dropped (if any charges come up in the first place), and the cop goes right back onto the street, probably doing it again.Google Wayne Jones Martinsburg http://m.heraldmailmedia.com/news/tri_state/west_virginia/autopsy-shows-martinsburg-police-shot-virginia-man-times/article_df4e0818-ca52-11e3-ac1b-001a4bcf6878.html?mode=jqm Bobby Shirley bank robbery. http://m.timeswv.com/news/bank-robber-says-sheriff-others-beat-him/article_ad44dc22-e351-5a96-a967-f2d8b5c90a6a.html?mode=jqm The sheriff went to jail, though part of that was falsifying reports to feds. the Wayne Jones killing is something I'm surprised never went national. Edited August 1, 2015 by Major Harris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USS Redskins Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 Tensing deserves to go to jail but I live in Cincy and what is making me sick is that this Dubois was a POS too. 50 drug arrests and they found a pound of weed in his car and lots of cash. But he is being celebrated like a angel. Flagrant lawbreaker and just all around crap person. Can't believe he was walking around free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TradeTheBeal! Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 Tensing deserves to go to jail but I live in Cincy and what is making me sick is that this Dubois was a POS too. 50 drug arrests and they found a pound of weed in his car and lots of cash. But he is being celebrated like a angel. Flagrant lawbreaker and just all around crap person. Can't believe he was walking around free. Again with the victim blaming. The fact that this guy has several non-violent misdemeanor arrests in the 80s, 90s, and 00s means absolutely nothing to this case. Not accusing you directly, but this is a perfect example of unconscious racism. A black man has been murdered, shot in the head at point blank range...on videotape! But, ya know, he had a lotta cash on him and some weed....so, ya know, nudge nudge.... I have an ounce of weed in the basement right now and I always have plenty of cash. In my whole lifetime, including traffic stops, I've been arrested around 10 times. If I get shot in the face by a nervous cop, are you gonna jump on this forum and tell the world what a terrible person I was? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DogofWar1 Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 Google Wayne Jones Martinsburg http://m.heraldmailmedia.com/news/tri_state/west_virginia/autopsy-shows-martinsburg-police-shot-virginia-man-times/article_df4e0818-ca52-11e3-ac1b-001a4bcf6878.html?mode=jqm Bobby Shirley bank robbery. http://m.timeswv.com/news/bank-robber-says-sheriff-others-beat-him/article_ad44dc22-e351-5a96-a967-f2d8b5c90a6a.html?mode=jqm The sheriff went to jail, though part of that was falsifying reports to feds. the Wayne Jones killing is something I'm surprised never went national. These fall into the rare cases. While I was at the Fairfax PD's office interning, we saw borderline unconstitutional conduct on the part of police on almost a daily basis. Searching cars without reasonable suspicion, homes without probable cause, asking questions without Mirandizing people, asking questions post indictment, etc., etc., were all fairly commonplace. Sometimes you would see a true case of police brutality too, but those were more rare than just run of the mill Constitutional violations. Most of these people are poor. They don't have the time, funds, understanding of the legal system, or courage, to initiate a civil suit on their behalf. If they are allowed to go free they usually just thank their attorney, and go back to their lives. Some of the borderline cases do ultimately fall into the "Constitutional" category. But plenty don't, enough that it is concerning to see so often. One of the more common things that happens is lower courts are more than happy to convict, so long as the accused has an appeal. Very often, these cases get overturned on appeal, if the accused has the money to continue fighting. Problem is most don't have the money, so they take deals. And that's one of the things that makes me frustrated more than most people with the cops who commit non-violent rights violations. The US is totally weighted against someone with a criminal record, regardless of what it's for. We don't have a remedial prison system, it's purely punishment, and does nothing to ensure that people don't commit crimes in the future. Further, getting a job with a criminal record, no matter how petty a crime it was, is a huge uphill battle. Getting convicted of a crime often caps one's capabilities in society. (Heck, getting charged with one does too, since many background check compilations are woefully incomplete/inaccurate, leading to loads of false positives) When someone is convicted of a crime from evidence collected via unconstitutional procedures, the damage is two-fold. First, we ratify the police's misconduct. Second, from that misconduct, we allow someone to be shoved into a system that is completely stacked against them for the rest of their lives. This stuff happens daily just in Fairfax County alone. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fred Jones Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 (edited) To continue my other points and referencing: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/08/01/baltimore-killings-soar-to-level-unseen-in-43-years/?intcmp=hpbt2 Some quotes from the article: "Baltimore is not unique in its suffering; crimes are spiking in big cities around the country." A nice safe environment for cops to work in, and one that to me, doesn't help their recruiting. Why would good people want to work in those environments? "Crime experts and residents of Baltimore's most dangerous neighborhoods cite a confluence of factors: mistrust of the police; generalized anger and hopelessness over a lack of opportunities for young black men; and competition among dealers of illegal drugs, bolstered by the looting of prescription pills from pharmacies during the riot." "Across West Baltimore, residents complain that drug addiction and crime are part of a cycle that begins with despair among children who lack educational and recreational opportunities, and extends when people can't find work." Perhaps one should stop blaming the cops and fix the other problems first. "Arrests plummeted and violence soared after six officers were indicted in Gray's death. Residents accused police of abandoning their posts for fear of facing criminal charges for making arrests, and said emboldened criminals were settling scores with little risk of being caught." I have talked to people that work in Prince Georges County, MD and inquired about the above. They said the same thing happens in both PG County and Baltimore City. When copes respond to a call in certain areas they have to send extra officers to ensure they have enough to handle the situation and have an extra few to guard their vehicles. Yes, while the cops dispatched to the call go inside or whatever and deal with the situation, two or so cops stay with the police vehicles to protect them. Not only a sad environment, but think of the basic resource allocation. You now can't spread your manpower around to handle more calls, thus providing less service to the community. Agree or disagree, that is reality because, of course, no one burns, destroys, etc. police vehicles. NOW, ALL THAT SAID: Dog, I don't disagree with your comments about Fairfax County police. I think they have a lot of good cops, but I have heard of some questionable stuff as well. Also, I have read about two shootings in the last few years where a Fairfax County cop wrongly shot someone. The first was when the supervisor had his finger on the trigger and not on the slide like he should have. Well, the reason why your finger is not on the trigger is so you don't accidentally pull the trigger like this cop did. Was not intentional, but it killed the suspect. The second was in the news where all the cops on the incident did the right thing except one. He didn't have his head on straight and ended up shooting and killing the suspect. Granted the suspect was threatening and such, but the other cops were handling it the right way. The county paid out a lot of money in both cases. Still waiting on the second case to see if they charge the cop. It has taken a long time because of circumstances not in control of the county police (not to bore you with the details). Edited August 1, 2015 by Fred Jones Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 I have an ounce of weed in the basement right now and I always have plenty of cash. In my whole lifetime, including traffic stops, I've been arrested around 10 times. If I get shot in the face by a nervous cop, are you gonna jump on this forum and tell the world what a terrible person I was? I will. I mean, just look at that picture. Obviously a violent thug. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistertim Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 Tensing deserves to go to jail but I live in Cincy and what is making me sick is that this Dubois was a POS too. 50 drug arrests and they found a pound of weed in his car and lots of cash. But he is being celebrated like a angel. Flagrant lawbreaker and just all around crap person. Can't believe he was walking around free. I don't really see him being made out to be an angel, at least not on here. What people ARE saying is that he didn't deserve to essentially be summarily executed. I just don't get (well I sorta do, but I don't want to go too far down that rabbit hole at this particular moment) why people keep feeling the need to throw out qualifiers in these sort of situations. "Yeah, maybe the cop was wrong...but the guy had done <x> in the past and was a <thug/POS/etc>". It really is roundabout victim blaming. The guy was shot in the head by a cop and was no threat to the officer at the time. That really should be the only relevant fact thrown out here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sisko Posted August 3, 2015 Share Posted August 3, 2015 To continue my other points and referencing: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/08/01/baltimore-killings-soar-to-level-unseen-in-43-years/?intcmp=hpbt2 Some quotes from the article: "Baltimore is not unique in its suffering; crimes are spiking in big cities around the country." A nice safe environment for cops to work in, and one that to me, doesn't help their recruiting. Why would good people want to work in those environments? "Crime experts and residents of Baltimore's most dangerous neighborhoods cite a confluence of factors: mistrust of the police; generalized anger and hopelessness over a lack of opportunities for young black men; and competition among dealers of illegal drugs, bolstered by the looting of prescription pills from pharmacies during the riot." "Across West Baltimore, residents complain that drug addiction and crime are part of a cycle that begins with despair among children who lack educational and recreational opportunities, and extends when people can't find work." Perhaps one should stop blaming the cops and fix the other problems first. [**emphasis added**] "Arrests plummeted and violence soared after six officers were indicted in Gray's death. Residents accused police of abandoning their posts for fear of facing criminal charges for making arrests, and said emboldened criminals were settling scores with little risk of being caught." I have talked to people that work in Prince Georges County, MD and inquired about the above. They said the same thing happens in both PG County and Baltimore City. When copes respond to a call in certain areas they have to send extra officers to ensure they have enough to handle the situation and have an extra few to guard their vehicles. Yes, while the cops dispatched to the call go inside or whatever and deal with the situation, two or so cops stay with the police vehicles to protect them. Not only a sad environment, but think of the basic resource allocation. You now can't spread your manpower around to handle more calls, thus providing less service to the community. Agree or disagree, that is reality because, of course, no one burns, destroys, etc. police vehicles. NOW, ALL THAT SAID: Dog, I don't disagree with your comments about Fairfax County police. I think they have a lot of good cops, but I have heard of some questionable stuff as well. Also, I have read about two shootings in the last few years where a Fairfax County cop wrongly shot someone. The first was when the supervisor had his finger on the trigger and not on the slide like he should have. Well, the reason why your finger is not on the trigger is so you don't accidentally pull the trigger like this cop did. Was not intentional, but it killed the suspect. The second was in the news where all the cops on the incident did the right thing except one. He didn't have his head on straight and ended up shooting and killing the suspect. Granted the suspect was threatening and such, but the other cops were handling it the right way. The county paid out a lot of money in both cases. Still waiting on the second case to see if they charge the cop. It has taken a long time because of circumstances not in control of the county police (not to bore you with the details). I think the work slowdowns mentioned in this article and in New York highlight the need for the police unions to be eviscerated. Not reformed. Not neutered but destroyed. In short, they're extorting the public... "Either we're allowed to brutalize people and violate their rights with impunity or we won't do our jobs at all." Cops I don't much like, but I hate police unions and this kind of thing is why. Regarding the section I bolded above, the fly in the ointment is, the cops are a part of that problem. In fairness to them, they didn't pass those laws and yet, the individual officer on the beat has a lot of discretion in what s/he chooses to pursue, charge, etc. One of my family members called the cops because upon approaching his friend's house, the front door was ajar and he thought the house had been broken into. The cop charged him with B & E. The prosecutor had zero evidence and there was no prior record but they wouldn't dismiss the charges so the attorney we hired suggested it would be cheapest and safest to avoid a trial and take the pre-trial deal. In essence, he had to stay out of trouble for 6 months, attend some BS meetings/classes, stay completely drug free etc. He did so without a problem. However the (lying sack of crap) prosecutor's office didn't dismiss the charges, they just let them hang. Indefinitely. That was 6 or 7 years ago and they still refuse to even respond. That meant he was disqualified for any number of jobs. We paid to put him through school and he's a successful HVAC technician now, on the way to having his own company. Now how many people charged in these kinds of BS cases have a family with the resources we do? Most don't and without it, their lives are probably through before they even get started. All of the time and $$$ this cost could have been avoided if the cop who responded had simply used his discretion not to charge the person who called them in the first place. Well, that and if the prosecutor's office had decided not to pursue a case for which they had zero evidence. Way to build community trust there officer friendly. Think about that the next time you lament "Why won't the community help us solve these crimes?" FWIW, during the time my relative was bouncing around from one dead end job to another, he managed to spit in or otherwise adulterate the food of cops at local restaurants whenever possible so they didn't get away completely scott free. Good for him. Cops also have the ability to ratchet things up or down. A prime case in point... Dude's hand is on his weapon! Sorry, but if this were a Black guy he'd have 20 or 30 holes in him and we'd be hearing about how the victim stole a pencil when he was in 2nd grade and looking at photos across the internet (some real, some photoshopped) showing how he was actually a vicious thug. Instead, this putz goes home...probably without being charged with threatening an officer or anything else. My point isn't that the officer did the wrong thing. Rather it's that EVERYONE deserves the opportunity for the cop to ratchet things down that this guy was afforded. The problem is, some of us don't get that chance. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sisko Posted August 3, 2015 Share Posted August 3, 2015 (edited) So on a challenge from another ES poster, I'll now be adding a variety of stories about officer friendly's antics...until Steve capitulates. Not all of these will be police brutality, any kind of misconduct is fair game. Here's your first few. Enjoy. What are the chances you or I get a shot at a plea deal like this or have the prosecutor do everything possible to avoid pressing charges like the guy in the last story? Former Dallas police officer accused of rape takes plea deal A former Dallas police officer accused of raping a sleeping woman at his Uptown home pleaded guilty Monday to a reduced charge of aggravated assault. Just before Oscar Araiza, 41, was set to stand trial, prosecutors offered to dismiss the sexual assault charge if he pleaded guilty to aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury. Araiza agreed to the deal because he felt it was “best for him,” rather than risk a 20-year prison sentence if convicted of sexual assault, said his defense attorney, Vanita Parker. Araiza insists the sex was consensual and still maintains his innocence, she said. Under the deal, Araiza will serve five years of deferred adjudication and will not have to register as a sex offender, Parker said. That means if he stays out of trouble and meets the conditions of his probation, he will not have a conviction. Tucson Police Chief Fires Officers Involved In Prostitution Ring TUCSON, Ariz. — Tucson Police Chief Roberto Villaseñor announced Tuesday that he is firing five officers accused of being involved in a prostitution ring. A total of 10 employees were part of a months long investigation. During an investigation of prostitution at illegal massage parlors, the Tucson Police Department found that some of its own officers were involved. Chief Villaseñor said firing the officers was a clear choice. Montgomery police officer arrested, 2 others on leave An altercation, a 911 call and an inaccurate report following the incident has resulted in the investigation of three Montgomery Police officers, one of whom was arrested for a misdemeanor harassment charge Tuesday.... ...“The information that was provided to me on that Sunday morning indicated that the incident was handled, wasn’t physical, but was only a verbal altercation,” Finley said Wednesday. However, MPD has a thorough fact-checking process for filing reports, and Finley was notified by an officer Monday that the report filed might not be accurate or complete. He notified Director Ronald Sams of the Office of City Investigations and Public Safety Director Chris Murphy on Tuesday as Jurkofsky spear-headed the preliminary investigation. Pearl police officer resigns amid investigation The officer, whose name has not been released, is accused of having inappropriate sexual contact with a 15-year-old girl, city and county officials said. Investigators suspect the incident happened in a home in late June or early July. The former officer had been with the Pearl police force for more than seven years. “He was an outstanding officer. He truly was,” Capt. Brian McGairty said. “He was a military veteran (and had) a great military career. The allegations are shocking. I should say overall, I would not have expected it out of him.” No charges have been filed against the officer, authorities said. Edited August 3, 2015 by The Sisko Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Major Harris Posted August 4, 2015 Share Posted August 4, 2015 You got serious issues dude. But have fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BRAVEONAWARPATH Posted August 4, 2015 Share Posted August 4, 2015 You got serious issues dude. But have fun. Nope. He was challenged and he accepted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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