Posted on 03/04/2012 8:47:19 PM PST by GreaterSwiss
Cops deemed to not have performed well risk losing as many as 10 vacation days or two weeks pay, sources said. “They manage this through a spirit of fear,” said one veteran cop. “Maybe the officer doesn’t present his testimony good enough. So they say, ‘OK, we’re going to take a week’s pay from you.’ ” The result is higher conviction rates — and a tense atmosphere in which officers sometimes falsify their notes and don’t tell the truth in court to avoid being punished, police and defense lawyers say. Defense lawyers say sympathetic judges even coach cops on what to say. “They see these cops every day, and they get to know them,” said one. “If a guy’s going to get into trouble, it’s, like, ‘I don’t want to let that happen.’ ”
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
any police officer who arrests first in order to let the judge sort them out BEFORE thinking SHOULD be sued personally.
You should have seen the absolute panic in FL when local officials realized they were PERSONALLY and CRIMINALLY liable for passing “feel good” gun laws.
Why are not all police stops recorded?
A NYPD beat cop has a starting salary of $34970 , plus some nice bennies, but the bennies are not cash.
When you are only making $34970 and the DA and Desk Sarge are going to dock a weeks pay, that is the difference between making rent or getting evicted.
Especially so now in the Bloomberg recession belt tightening as overtime has been severely limited and is on a seniority basis.
NYPD has been fake ticketing for over a hundred years... they might have been polished up after 9/11 with $50B in Federal taxpayer money, but they are still for the most part just the largest gang in the city.
In Michigan funding from traffic tickets go to the courts and a portion to the state. There is a small pittence left over that can only be given to the municipal general fund or to the library system.
The rules are very tight so most municipalities elect to have the funds go to the library. The biggest reason though is that it takes the ‘funding’ issue off the table.
Most of the current fine structure in my county is set up to fund the COURTS, not the police. The courts tacked on $25.00 to each ticket a few years ago in order to hire another clerk. They have since upped that amount.
For instance, the standard for 5 over is $100.00 in Michigan. My daughter just got a ticket and her fine is $135.00. The difference is funding the local court.
There are only TWO types of cops:
Bad Cops and those who are not YET Bad Cops. And the later is only a matter of time. They will resign and do something else, or they will BECOME criminals.
There are NO Good Cops. “Oath Keepers” is a myth. A hopeful fantasy at best. We ARE a fascist state.
On the day, long ago when a serious traffic violation (one which, frankly, could not be done with my vehicle) ticket came up in court, the officer was NOT present, instead of dismissing, the judge found me guilty and applied a low fine. I appealed, and lost (sort of, fine from the lower court stood, no court costs).
The ordinance was a 'gotcha', with no intent required, a mechanical malfunction could result in the same conviction, solely at the discretion of the officer, who did show up for the appeal and, frankly, lied his arse off.
At least the appeals judge was savvy enough to recognize that.
Going back to the elected county sheriff system would not be perfect either. In places like Detroit, the people who elect him would have him not investigate crimes against disfavored minorities (namely the few remaining middle-class white folks). Then again, if we abolished state and federal welfare programs and grants, then no locality could survive having more than a small percent being of the welfare class.
Oh, I agree, on both points. No system is perfect, but some are better than others (and in certains circumstances they can swap, there’s an exception to every earthly rule). We already have police chiefs doing exactly what you described, in fact we have a federal Attorney General (!) doing that. Not to mention the LA (IIRC) police chief refusing to arrest illegals, etc., etc. No system is perfect, as I said, but the less bureaucracy and (corresponding) unionized government thugs, the better.
Wow, boy are you on target. I had several people I went to high school with become cops. To my knowledge every single one of them left after a few years because they couldn’t handle the corruption (they specifically stated that when asked why they left). Many/Most joined the military afterwards, a few did other things.
Funny, I just saw this addressed the other day:
http://www.theagitator.com/2012/03/05/durham-loses-another-prosecutor/
Public choice theory tells us that public officials don’t magically start behaving selflessly and altruistically simply because they’ve chosen a career in public service. They’ll still act in their own interest most of the time, as we all do. That’s not an indictment of public service. It’s a recognition of human nature, and how we’re hard-wired. In terms of policy, it’s prescribes that we design our institutions in a way that accounts for how people actually behave, not for an idealized version of how we hope they’ll behave. The left tends to dismiss public choice theory outright. The right tends to believe it’s applicable to all areas of public service except law enforcement and criminal justice.
Thanks for the correction, but as I said early 1970’s (almost 40 year’s ago.) I notice that you go by “capt b” were you a fireman or a cop by chance, and not to publish to the world ex-wife’s father last name, now deceased, but if you possibly knew him, a hint at part of his last name, let’s just say, no “such” thing.
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