quote: police work has one of the highest suicide rates on the books
Interestingly, this turns out not to be the case. There was an article in the New York Times on the subject some weeks ago, about a study which concluded that, oddly enough, occupations traditionally considered to be high-stress have suicide rates that are no higher than the average.
Registered: Mar 1999
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In the first case, my friend's transmission exploded (literally, there was a hole in the casing and various parts that should have been inside it were strewn about the ground), so he pulled into the nearest parking lot. A couple other friends who were with us pulled in, too (there were about seven or eight of us in three cars). As we were trying to figure out what to do about the car, this cop pulls up and starts yelling at us, asking what we're doing in "his" parking lot. Bear in mind that, at this point, my friend had already gone into the Blockbuster whose parking lot it was and asked the people running it whether he could leave his car there since it was broken. They'd said "yes". One of my friends was calmly, politely explaining to the cop why we were there, and the cop starting threatening to beat him. At some point, the cop noticed one guy's little brother who was with us (he was about fifteen, I think), and figured he could get us for curfew violations. He sent that guy home, then asked another guy his age. "Eighteen." He asked the next guy. "Nineteen." He asked me. "Twenty." He gave up at that point, but he still told us that everyone who hadn't been in the broken car needed to leave immediately, or he'd arrest them for loitering, or something. After that, we went to the police station to file a complaint about the cop. Unfortunately, the first station we went to was closed, an I had to go home, but my friends went to another station and filed their complaints.
The other run-in I had was w/ a cop who wasn't as active an asshole, but still a jerk. Granted, I was speeding, so I'm not going to complain about the fact that I was pulled over and ticketed. I can live w/ that. But the guy took forever. He caught me speeding by tailing me (it was dark, so I didn't see that the car behind me was a cop, and I wasn't really watching my speed, anyway). He knew that my friends, who were behind him, were speeding, too, since they kept up w/ him, but apparently he couldn't ticket them since he wasn't actually following them. However, since he pulled me over right in front of my apartment (where we'd all been heading), he called for another cop to go find my friends in the parking lot so that he could give them a warning. He took about twenty minutes to write my ticket, ecause he was talking to them. When he finally came back w/ it, he'd left my insurance card in his car. He went to get it, and didn't bring it back for about ten minutes. Turns out, he was showing my friends various fancy devices on his car. He said "Sorry that took so long. We were back here playing w/ the police car." As he walked off, he said "You can come back and play w/ the police car, too, if you want." I just said "No, that's alright" and drove off when he turned off his lights.
So, basically, the only cops I've ever dealt with were, on one hand, actively hateful, and, on the other hand, passively disrespectful. I know that not all cops are like that. But I've heard far more "the cop was such a fucking ass" stories than "the cop was quite pleasant" stories.
Registered: Mar 1999
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quote:Originally posted by TSN: At some point, the cop noticed one guy's little brother who was with us (he was about fifteen, I think), and figured he could get us for curfew violations. He sent that guy home, then asked another guy his age.
When did you move to Ramallah?
-------------------- "I was surprised by the matter-of-factness of Kafka's narration, and the subtle humor present as a result." (Sizer 2005)
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Are curfew laws uncommon? In St. Louis County:
"It is unlawful for any minor under the age of seventeen years to loiter, idle, wander, stroll or to drive or ride in an automobile, or play in or upon the public streets, highways, roads, alleys, parks, playgrounds, wharves, docks, or other public grounds, public places and public buildings, places of amusement and entertainment, vacant lots or other unsupervised places, between the hours of 11:00 P.M. and 6:00 A.M. of the following day, official County time, except on Fridays and Saturdays when the hours shall be 12:00 midnight to 6:00 A.M. of the following day, official County time, except that this Section does not apply to a minor accompanied by his or her parent, guardian, or other adult person having the care and custody of the minor, or when the minor is upon an emergency errand or legitimate business directed by his or her parent, guardian, or other adult person having the care and custody of the minor."
posted
Wow. Living in the crucible of freedom seems to have its perks.
-------------------- "I was surprised by the matter-of-factness of Kafka's narration, and the subtle humor present as a result." (Sizer 2005)
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
We have a town here in New York. Some of you may have heard of it. Palmyra.
The cops here do nothing but randomly pull over cars and torment people. Yes torment.
It's rather sad. The townspeople are afraid to do anything about it so it just goes on and on and on. If you have to drive from Macedon to Newark or Lyons, you end up having to take a bypass around the stinking town otherwise they'll haul you in for questioning for no fing reason. (Lived there for 2 years... don't get me started on how they "mark" cars or thier random apartment search policies...)
Now, don't get me wrong... I respect the police. Very much so. The NY State Troopers are some of the nicest folks that I've ever met. Heck, that cop who pulled me over for doing 80 in a 55 was very polite. (Let me off because I had a hurt person in my car).
It's just the "Local Enforcer" ones I dislike.
-------------------- Like A Bat Out Of Hell...
Registered: Aug 2001
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quote:Originally posted by Styrofoaman: Heck, that cop who pulled me over for doing 80 in a 55 was very polite. (Let me off because I had a hurt person in my car).
Asked and answered in one statement.
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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quote:The cops here do nothing but randomly pull over cars and torment people. Yes torment.
This was posted on another forum, and I think it answers Stryofoam Brain's idiotic statement quite well:
quote:It is not easy. In California we average one cop for every 2000 people. About 60% of those cops are on patrol, where we do most of the harassing. One-fifth of that 60% are on duty at any moment and available for harassing people. So, one cop is responsible to harass about 10,000 residents. When you toss in the commercial, business, and tourist locations that attract people from other areas, sometimes you have a situation where a single cop is responsible to harass 20k or more people a day.
A ten-hour shift runs 36,000 seconds. This gives a cop one-second to harass a person, and three-fourths of a second to eat a donut AND find a new person to harass.
This is not an easy task. Most cops are not up to it day in and day out. It is just too tiring. What we do is utilize some tools to help us narrow down those which we harass. They are as follows:
PHONE: People will call us up and point out things that cause us to focus on a person for special harassment. "My neighbor is beating his wife" is a code phrase we use. Then we come out and give special harassment. Another popular one on a week night is, "The kids next door are having a party."
CARS: We have special cops assigned to harass people who drive. They like to harass the drivers of fast cars, cars blasting music, cars with expired registration tabs, and the like. It is lots of fun when you pick them out of traffic for nothing more obvious than running a red light. Sometimes you get to really heap the harassment on when you find they have drugs in the car, are drunk, or have a warrant.
RUNNERS: Some people take off running just at the sight of a police officer. Nothing is quite as satisfying as running after them like a beagle on the scent of a bunny. When you catch them you can harass them for hours.
CODES: When you can think of nothing else to do, there are books that give ideas for reasons to harass folks. They are called Codes. Penal, Vehicle, Health and Safety, Business and Professions, etc. They all spell out all sorts of things for which you can really mess with people. After you read the code, you can just drive around for a while until you find someone violating one of these listed offenses and harass them. Just last week I saw a guy smash a car window. Well, the code says that is not allowed. That meant I got to harass this guy.
It is a pretty cool system that we have set up, and it works pretty well. I seem to have a never-ending supply of folks to harass. And we get away with it because the good citizens who pay the tab like that we keep the streets safe for them.
Next time you are in my town, give me a single finger wave. That is a signal that you wish for me to take a little closer look at you, and maybe find a reason to harass you. Looking forward to meeting you.
Problem is Palmyra PD is a dumping ground for officers fired or let go from other police departments. Lots of disgruntled cops. Doesn't help that the town also doesn't pay it's officers squat. I remember hearing at a town meeting that they were making about the same as a Burger-King worker.
Add that with human nature and you get the situation mentioned posts above.
Ah well. This is why we set up shop in Fairport. The people are much nicer there.
-------------------- Like A Bat Out Of Hell...
Registered: Aug 2001
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posted
So, what's the code phrase that tells a cop he should threaten to beat a guy w/ his Maglite for trying to help his friend whose car broke down?
Registered: Mar 1999
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