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For a more hilarious use of military tech by police, see this video by Doraville, GA police of their "track-y fun-box" (a.k.a. "tank," sorry for the ear-splitti

For a more hilarious use of military tech by police, see this video by Doraville, GA police of their "track-y fun-box" (a.k.a. "tank," sorry for the ear-splitting levels): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kajhu7qgojU You have to wonder what threats they face among their population of 8,000 citizens in north-central Georgia.

xeromal 12y ago
I grew up in Ellijay, GA and many police offers were bullies in my highschool. The city doesn't really have the cream of the crop or the pay to choose otherwise.
- username223 12y ago
  When your job ads say "not much pay, but you get to carry a big gun and scare people with it," this is what you get. I wish cops and primary/secondary teachers were paid enough that the people reading this post would consider those jobs, because they kind of matter.
  - click170 12y ago
    Seems like a chicken and egg problem. They barely deserve the salary they get now with all the incidents going on, but they won't get more intelligent people applying until the wages are increased. Probably best to start with the teachers so theres a larger pool if educated people to hire from.
    - username223 12y ago
      According to BLS, coders make something like $93k/yr [1], while policemen make about $57k [2], and primary school teachers make $53k [3]. How much of a pay cut would you take to accept one of those jobs? How much more in taxes would you pay to hire/train better people to do those jobs? [1] http://www.bls.gov/ooh/Computer-and-Information-Technology/Software-developers.htm http://www.bls.gov/ooh/Computer-and-Information-Technology/S... [2] http://www.bls.gov/ooh/Protective-Service/Police-and-detectives.htm http://www.bls.gov/ooh/Protective-Service/Police-and-detecti... [3] http://www.bls.gov/ooh/Education-Training-and-Library/Kindergarten-and-elementary-school-teachers.htm http://www.bls.gov/ooh/Education-Training-and-Library/Kinder...
      - knodi123 12y ago
        why should I take a paycut? if we end the war on drugs, we could pay fewer officers more money to do more effective and humane policing, with more training. win/win/win.
        zanny 12y ago
        Lose for the prison industry, the pharma industry, the military arms industry, the black market drug industry, and police unions. All of which have huge power, and all of which will continue to bribe to keep the blood money flowing.
      - woodman 12y ago
        I'm not able to find the BLS methodology used to come up with that $57k figure, does anybody know? Unless they're drawing that from the IRS, I really doubt the accuracy. Cops generally make quite a bit of money from overtime and generous pensions. They also frequently moonlight and get paid well to do very little: any business that employs a large number of temp workers will have an off duty cop hanging out in a back office, for liability reasons. This demand for off duty cops is a result of cities taking on liability for the off duty cop's actions - instead of the business. At one place I worked, security alerted the off duty that somebody was on the roof late one night (presumably to steal copper from the AC units). The cop made a phone call and within minutes a police helicopter was launch and circling the building, that is another reason why off duty cops get paid so well - the employing business gets a little taste of state power at the tax payer's expense.
        maxerickson 12y ago
        They survey employers: http://www.bls.gov/oes/oes_ques.htm#overview http://www.bls.gov/oes/oes_ques.htm#overview (The OOH uses OES data: http://www.bls.gov/ooh/about/occupational-information-included-in-the-ooh.htm http://www.bls.gov/ooh/about/occupational-information-includ... ) It specifically does not include overtime: http://www.bls.gov/respondents/oes/payterms.htm#overtime_pay http://www.bls.gov/respondents/oes/payterms.htm#overtime_pay
    - jrs235 12y ago
      It doesn't help that departments don't want intelligent officers and can refuse to hire people based on high IQ scores. http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=95836&page=1#.Tv-OZSNWplw http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=95836&page=1#.Tv-OZSNWplw
      - fixedd 12y ago
        > But New London police interviewed only candidates who scored 20 to 27, on the theory that those who scored too high could get bored with police work and leave soon after undergoing costly training. Yeah... you solve that with employment contracts, not discriminatory hiring practices. I really don't see how saying "smart people will get bored and quit" is any different from saying "African-Americans are lazy and will eventually stop showing up on time", or some other nonsense.
  - DugFin 12y ago
    Higher pay doesn't address the problem with cops. They pay cops VERY well in my city, and yet they are still in the news constantly with the same sort of antics. The problem is that the job of law enforcement is BORING. There's simply very little intellectual challenge to driving around all day looking for trouble. Beyond the occasional zen master, you're going to end up with primarily one general kind of person who can tolerate being in law enforcement, and it's not the sort of person who craves sophisticated intellectual stimulation.
    - username223 12y ago
      I've met some genuinely decent cops, e.g. state troopers, who probably make decent money and care enough to take a pay cut versus what they would make as tech middle management. Driving around issuing speeding tickets and occasionally shooting homeless guys isn't intellectual work, but convincing people who were abused by the last guy in your job that you're trying to make their lives better is tough. Would you be up to it?
- CamperBob2 12y ago
  "Jobs for those of job age," as Anthony Burgess put it.
- cjslep 12y ago
  Small world: My grandparents have lived there for a fair length of time. I remember driving by the county courthouse where a klan rally was being held in the mid 2000's with a Grand Wizard in red robes and everything. I've been told that the county/town even had a celebration when the census came back with no minorities at one point. As such, it's no stretch of my imagination what kind of gray areas the law enforcement in that area is in.
  - jacquesm 12y ago
    In the mid 2000's? That's just so sad.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
chucksmash 12y ago
"in north-central Georgia" While this sentence is technically a correct description, it conveys the impression that Doraville is a rural town which it certainly isn't (Doraville is "ITP" - inside I-285).

xeromal 12y ago

I grew up in Ellijay, GA and many police offers were bullies in my highschool. The city doesn't really have the cream of the crop or the pay to choose otherwise.

username223 12y ago
When your job ads say "not much pay, but you get to carry a big gun and scare people with it," this is what you get. I wish cops and primary/secondary teachers were paid enough that the people reading this post would consider those jobs, because they kind of matter.
- click170 12y ago
  Seems like a chicken and egg problem. They barely deserve the salary they get now with all the incidents going on, but they won't get more intelligent people applying until the wages are increased. Probably best to start with the teachers so theres a larger pool if educated people to hire from.
  - username223 12y ago
    According to BLS, coders make something like $93k/yr [1], while policemen make about $57k [2], and primary school teachers make $53k [3]. How much of a pay cut would you take to accept one of those jobs? How much more in taxes would you pay to hire/train better people to do those jobs? [1] http://www.bls.gov/ooh/Computer-and-Information-Technology/Software-developers.htm http://www.bls.gov/ooh/Computer-and-Information-Technology/S... [2] http://www.bls.gov/ooh/Protective-Service/Police-and-detectives.htm http://www.bls.gov/ooh/Protective-Service/Police-and-detecti... [3] http://www.bls.gov/ooh/Education-Training-and-Library/Kindergarten-and-elementary-school-teachers.htm http://www.bls.gov/ooh/Education-Training-and-Library/Kinder...
    - knodi123 12y ago
      why should I take a paycut? if we end the war on drugs, we could pay fewer officers more money to do more effective and humane policing, with more training. win/win/win.
      - zanny 12y ago
        Lose for the prison industry, the pharma industry, the military arms industry, the black market drug industry, and police unions. All of which have huge power, and all of which will continue to bribe to keep the blood money flowing.
    - woodman 12y ago
      I'm not able to find the BLS methodology used to come up with that $57k figure, does anybody know? Unless they're drawing that from the IRS, I really doubt the accuracy. Cops generally make quite a bit of money from overtime and generous pensions. They also frequently moonlight and get paid well to do very little: any business that employs a large number of temp workers will have an off duty cop hanging out in a back office, for liability reasons. This demand for off duty cops is a result of cities taking on liability for the off duty cop's actions - instead of the business. At one place I worked, security alerted the off duty that somebody was on the roof late one night (presumably to steal copper from the AC units). The cop made a phone call and within minutes a police helicopter was launch and circling the building, that is another reason why off duty cops get paid so well - the employing business gets a little taste of state power at the tax payer's expense.
      - maxerickson 12y ago
        They survey employers: http://www.bls.gov/oes/oes_ques.htm#overview http://www.bls.gov/oes/oes_ques.htm#overview (The OOH uses OES data: http://www.bls.gov/ooh/about/occupational-information-included-in-the-ooh.htm http://www.bls.gov/ooh/about/occupational-information-includ... ) It specifically does not include overtime: http://www.bls.gov/respondents/oes/payterms.htm#overtime_pay http://www.bls.gov/respondents/oes/payterms.htm#overtime_pay
  - jrs235 12y ago
    It doesn't help that departments don't want intelligent officers and can refuse to hire people based on high IQ scores. http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=95836&page=1#.Tv-OZSNWplw http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=95836&page=1#.Tv-OZSNWplw
    - fixedd 12y ago
      > But New London police interviewed only candidates who scored 20 to 27, on the theory that those who scored too high could get bored with police work and leave soon after undergoing costly training. Yeah... you solve that with employment contracts, not discriminatory hiring practices. I really don't see how saying "smart people will get bored and quit" is any different from saying "African-Americans are lazy and will eventually stop showing up on time", or some other nonsense.
- DugFin 12y ago
  Higher pay doesn't address the problem with cops. They pay cops VERY well in my city, and yet they are still in the news constantly with the same sort of antics. The problem is that the job of law enforcement is BORING. There's simply very little intellectual challenge to driving around all day looking for trouble. Beyond the occasional zen master, you're going to end up with primarily one general kind of person who can tolerate being in law enforcement, and it's not the sort of person who craves sophisticated intellectual stimulation.
  - username223 12y ago
    I've met some genuinely decent cops, e.g. state troopers, who probably make decent money and care enough to take a pay cut versus what they would make as tech middle management. Driving around issuing speeding tickets and occasionally shooting homeless guys isn't intellectual work, but convincing people who were abused by the last guy in your job that you're trying to make their lives better is tough. Would you be up to it?
CamperBob2 12y ago
"Jobs for those of job age," as Anthony Burgess put it.
cjslep 12y ago
Small world: My grandparents have lived there for a fair length of time. I remember driving by the county courthouse where a klan rally was being held in the mid 2000's with a Grand Wizard in red robes and everything. I've been told that the county/town even had a celebration when the census came back with no minorities at one point. As such, it's no stretch of my imagination what kind of gray areas the law enforcement in that area is in.
- jacquesm 12y ago
  In the mid 2000's? That's just so sad.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]

chucksmash 12y ago

"in north-central Georgia" While this sentence is technically a correct description, it conveys the impression that Doraville is a rural town which it certainly isn't (Doraville is "ITP" - inside I-285).