5 ms·

Where are the criminal charges against the officers? When the worst that can happen as the result of a theft is there's an outside chance that you might have to

by zik 9y ago

Where are the criminal charges against the officers? When the worst that can happen as the result of a theft is there's an outside chance that you might have to give the money back and there'll be no negative repercussions why wouldn't you keep on stealing?

tantalor 9y ago
Don't hold your breath, they were doing their job.
- SauciestGNU 9y ago
  If this is their job then the entire institution of policing is irredeemably flawed and we ought to scrap it. If these officers were acting outside of the law then they should be fired and charged with a crime.
  - exelius 9y ago
    > If this is their job then the entire institution of policing is irredeemably flawed and we ought to scrap it. Our main problem as a society is that half the country believes the above, and the other half believes that the half that isn't them are all lawless savages who need order imposed by a heavy hand. This can't end well.
    - jMyles 9y ago
      > Our main problem as a society is that half the country believes the above, and the other half believes that the half that isn't them are all lawless savages who need order imposed by a heavy hand. I have just completed an 18-month tour of the country by land (thisisthebus.com). I've met people from every corner of the land and talked politics, technology, religion, and all sorts of other things with literally hundreds, probably a couple thousand, at urban watering holes, suburban campfires, and rural churches. Please point me to the place where I might find the latter half of the population you've described. From the Everglades to the Oregon Coast, from the desert to the Hudson Valley, I've searched long and hard and haven't found them. Everybody in this country wants peace. And a chance for their families to live in harmony in their communities. Nobody - (excuse my language) fucking nobody - wants two million people in prison. Nobody.
      - irrational 9y ago
        You're not sticking to the narrative.
      - exelius 9y ago
        No offense, but you as an outsider are not going to see that. It's selection bias; the people willing to talk to you are going to be more open to outsiders. The people who fear the invasion of the lawless savages are holed up at home. Reagan called it the "silent majority"; and I wouldn't say it's an actual majority, but it's at least 30% of the country judging by Trump's poll numbers.
      - SwellJoe 9y ago
        With all due respect and not to have a pissing contest, but I've been traveling, first in a motorhome and now with an old Avion travel trailer, for about 7 of the past 9 years (sort of hard to pin down exactly what "traveling" means in this context since sometimes I park in one place for a few months, but it includes multiple drives from coast to coast and from Alaska to southern Mexico), and I've met quite a few law-and-order Republicans who absolutely believe that the vast majority of people in prison deserve to be there, that if people just do what police say there won't be any more police brutality, and that maybe we should spend more money on law enforcement and give police more power. It's certainly not half, but it's a sizable portion of the US population, and clearly a sizeable portion of the voting population, since our government has been dramatically reshaped in the past year by them. It's sometimes surprising, too. I've met sweet old ladies that as long as topics were of the travel and weather variety seemed perfectly normal. The moment politics came up, they'd show a mean side that would really throw me for a loop. Racism with a shocking lack of self-awareness about their racism is one of the biggest surprises. That said, rather than arguing that you're wrong about the people you've met, I suspect you've experienced bias in the people you meet in traveling the way you do. I've noticed there is a bias in the people I interact with most, for sure; lots of hippies, train kids, as well as people who love the outdoors (in a hiking and biking in national and state parks sort of way, rather than a hunting and fishing sort of way), etc. frequent some of my favorite places to go. But I still meet enough middle-class white folks who have alarming (to me) ideas about police and race and justice in America. If nobody wanted 2.2 million people in prison, we wouldn't have 2.2 million people in prison. Somebody sure as hell wants it because they vote over and over for the people that perpetuate it. We can't pretend no one is responsible. There are people who made decisions that led us inexorably to this outcome, and people making decisions daily to maintain and even expand the prison industrial complex.
  - itsdabullies 9y ago
    who's going to arrest the offenders, the police? on a related note: stob! its da bullies!
  - tim333 9y ago
    The trouble is not so much with the police and more with the law that allows confiscation of assets without evidence of wrongdoing. That's always seemed nuts to me. They should need to show that at least on balance of probabilities it was being used for criminal purposes before they can take it. And confiscated money should go to the nation, not to the police department.
- oliwarner 9y ago
  Upholding —not breaking— the law is their job. But either way, "my boss told me to" isn't a get out of jail free card. The reason officers are rarely prosecuted is because lazy lawmakers are scared the police won't be able to do their jobs if their abilities are prescribed in law. It's open to interpretation.

by zik 9y ago

tantalor 9y ago

Don't hold your breath, they were doing their job.

SauciestGNU 9y ago
If this is their job then the entire institution of policing is irredeemably flawed and we ought to scrap it. If these officers were acting outside of the law then they should be fired and charged with a crime.
- exelius 9y ago
  > If this is their job then the entire institution of policing is irredeemably flawed and we ought to scrap it. Our main problem as a society is that half the country believes the above, and the other half believes that the half that isn't them are all lawless savages who need order imposed by a heavy hand. This can't end well.
  - jMyles 9y ago
    > Our main problem as a society is that half the country believes the above, and the other half believes that the half that isn't them are all lawless savages who need order imposed by a heavy hand. I have just completed an 18-month tour of the country by land (thisisthebus.com). I've met people from every corner of the land and talked politics, technology, religion, and all sorts of other things with literally hundreds, probably a couple thousand, at urban watering holes, suburban campfires, and rural churches. Please point me to the place where I might find the latter half of the population you've described. From the Everglades to the Oregon Coast, from the desert to the Hudson Valley, I've searched long and hard and haven't found them. Everybody in this country wants peace. And a chance for their families to live in harmony in their communities. Nobody - (excuse my language) fucking nobody - wants two million people in prison. Nobody.
    - irrational 9y ago
      You're not sticking to the narrative.
    - exelius 9y ago
      No offense, but you as an outsider are not going to see that. It's selection bias; the people willing to talk to you are going to be more open to outsiders. The people who fear the invasion of the lawless savages are holed up at home. Reagan called it the "silent majority"; and I wouldn't say it's an actual majority, but it's at least 30% of the country judging by Trump's poll numbers.
    - SwellJoe 9y ago
      With all due respect and not to have a pissing contest, but I've been traveling, first in a motorhome and now with an old Avion travel trailer, for about 7 of the past 9 years (sort of hard to pin down exactly what "traveling" means in this context since sometimes I park in one place for a few months, but it includes multiple drives from coast to coast and from Alaska to southern Mexico), and I've met quite a few law-and-order Republicans who absolutely believe that the vast majority of people in prison deserve to be there, that if people just do what police say there won't be any more police brutality, and that maybe we should spend more money on law enforcement and give police more power. It's certainly not half, but it's a sizable portion of the US population, and clearly a sizeable portion of the voting population, since our government has been dramatically reshaped in the past year by them. It's sometimes surprising, too. I've met sweet old ladies that as long as topics were of the travel and weather variety seemed perfectly normal. The moment politics came up, they'd show a mean side that would really throw me for a loop. Racism with a shocking lack of self-awareness about their racism is one of the biggest surprises. That said, rather than arguing that you're wrong about the people you've met, I suspect you've experienced bias in the people you meet in traveling the way you do. I've noticed there is a bias in the people I interact with most, for sure; lots of hippies, train kids, as well as people who love the outdoors (in a hiking and biking in national and state parks sort of way, rather than a hunting and fishing sort of way), etc. frequent some of my favorite places to go. But I still meet enough middle-class white folks who have alarming (to me) ideas about police and race and justice in America. If nobody wanted 2.2 million people in prison, we wouldn't have 2.2 million people in prison. Somebody sure as hell wants it because they vote over and over for the people that perpetuate it. We can't pretend no one is responsible. There are people who made decisions that led us inexorably to this outcome, and people making decisions daily to maintain and even expand the prison industrial complex.
- itsdabullies 9y ago
  who's going to arrest the offenders, the police? on a related note: stob! its da bullies!
- tim333 9y ago
  The trouble is not so much with the police and more with the law that allows confiscation of assets without evidence of wrongdoing. That's always seemed nuts to me. They should need to show that at least on balance of probabilities it was being used for criminal purposes before they can take it. And confiscated money should go to the nation, not to the police department.
oliwarner 9y ago
Upholding —not breaking— the law is their job. But either way, "my boss told me to" isn't a get out of jail free card. The reason officers are rarely prosecuted is because lazy lawmakers are scared the police won't be able to do their jobs if their abilities are prescribed in law. It's open to interpretation.