Man and Mr. Shotgun surprise burglar

Anchorage Daily News ^ | 01/06/07 | MEGAN HOLLAND

[thefactor]

oh please. if you ever did my job you would learn one basic fact that holds true in every situation:

there are three sides to every story: yours, mine, and the truth. i wasnt there so i will not judge.

[thefactor]

i hope you aren't actually looking for answers to those questions. you basically asked me why cops are inadequate, power hungry, right-violating, morons. that is one i cannot answer.

can you tell me why members of the public (non-cops) are insolent, disrespectful, whiney, ungrateful snobs? you can't because it is not the case. but i can rattle off 100's of situations where they were.

[magslinger]

I thought I was the only one who called their shotgun "Mr Shotgun"

I used to, but now Splatters and I are on a first name basis.

[Pete-R-Bilt]

Ah, how you must long for the days of Franky Avilon and Annette Funicello...

[tubebender]

Please... I prefer Lawrence Welk, even in reruns...

[Knitebane]

True enough.

But that's not the point I was making.

The point is one which gets overlooked by cops over and over again and why so many people have so much less trust in cops than they did 50 years ago.

Cops close ranks against the people they are supposed to be serving. As long as cops "never second guess another cop" you will be second guessed by eveyone else.

The majority of police officers are honest. There is a small percentage that is not. But dishonest cops don't operate in a vacuum. If you are a cop and you know of a dirty cop and you haven't said anything you are a dirty cop too.

You are paid to arrest criminals. That means cops too. In fact, it means ESPECIALLY cops. They have a position of authority and should be held to a higher standard than non-cops.

This doesn't happen. That's why most major police departments have rat squads, because cops won't bust other cops.

And the public suffers for it. The attitude "I won't second guess another cop" is wrong-headed.

[thefactor]

just a couple of points:

cop rat out other cops all the time. they do it anonomously. they write letters. so we call them rats. they think it's a huge deal that a cop leaves work 5 minutes early or gets a free cup of coffee. or they think a boss has it in for them so they are stuck. they never look at themselves.

if i knew of a cop breaking laws, i would alert a higher authority. if i had thought they were breaking the public trust in a meaningful way, but it would take serious misconduct.

imho, people watch way too many movies and that adds to their distrust of police. cops are regular people who want to go home at night. we dont go out searching for civil rights to violate. i hate being lied to. and i hate disrespect. those two things will get you looked at a little harder. if i treat you like a gentlemen and you treat me like a J/O, we are going to have a problem. i'm out there trying to help people and, yes, trying to weed out the trouble makers. just give me your ID and you'll be on your way as long as there is no problem. i stop people for a reason, not because i am on a power trip. my department pays me to do that. i am within my scope of power.

i might be wrong sometimes. i'll apologize for the delay and you'll be gone. the public wants us to be right 100% of the time, it seems.

as for second guessing other cops, if a jury finds a cop at fault i'll be the first to say he was wrong. but i just do not trust the media's take on our actions. they just dont know.

[BigTom85]

Maybe in NYC. However, in most parts of upstate NY most families own guns and are able to protect themselves.

[conservative in nyc]

I was talking about New York City, where you need a license even to purchase a shotgun. The rest of the state doesn't have those restrictive laws - yet. Give Spitzer a few years, though, and that might change.