Posted on 01/27/2013 7:24:49 PM PST by chessplayer
The American approach to law enforcement was forged by the experience of revolution. Emerging as they did from the shadow of British rule, the country's founders would likely have viewed police, as they exist today, as a standing army, and therefore a threat to liberty. Even so, excessive force and disregard for the Bill of Rights have become epidemic in today’s world. According to civil liberties reporter Radley Balko, these are all symptoms of a generation-long shift to increasingly aggressive, militaristic, and arguably unconstitutional policing—one that would have shocked the conscience of America’s founders.
Rise of the Warrior Cop traces the arc of U.S. law enforcement from the constables and private justice of colonial times to present-day SWAT teams and riot cops. Today, relentless “war on drugs” and “war on terror” pronouncements from politicians, along with battle-clad police forces with tanks and machine guns have dangerously blurred the distinction between cop and soldier.
(Excerpt) Read more at amazon.com ...
BFL
Second city cop is quite a blog. The hatred toward Rahm “Tiny Dancer” is palatable.
Roger that.
Yeah, I’ve been pulled over a few times. Speeding, expired registration, that kind of thing. I can’t honestly say that I’ve ever met a cop in my personal dealings that was anything other than professional and polite.
Bookmark Second City Cop
It's not a site for virginal sensitivities, but the hard truths in life usually aren't.
I wish FReepers would stop posting that nonsense about the county sheriff being the most powerful law enforcement, blah blah.
One more time, for the record: Like the office of the governor, the power of the sheriff is derived from the state constitution. Some states have governors with strong executive powers, and some states do not. Likewise, some states grant sheriffs broad powers, and some states don’t. Some states like CT, and AK don’t even provide for the office of sheriff. In some states the sheriff is just a job that is filled and vacated by hiring and firing not an elected official. Some states grant the office broad law enforcement powers, others relegate them to process servers, and a handful use them exclusively as jailers.
“..Do we want them to be our allies or our foe?
We still have time to make a difference....”
That’s THEIR choice, entirely.
I don’t recall any normal, everyday civilians being asked whether or not they’d fire on other citizens, or go door to door to confiscate legally-owned, lawfully-purchased private property.
Life is full of choices...not all choices are easy, nor smart. But it is still a choice.
In those counties with a strong sheriff, their selection is a critical consideration.
The first nation to militarize it’s police was Nazi Germany. History provides many lessons.
I’ve lived in Jersey all my life and I can attest to the truth of what you say. Two cousins of mine are retired NJ cops and left the force because they said it was getting ‘’too crazy’’ and they didn’t mean the bad guys. The biggest a-hole punk of a wanna-be cop is our governor.
Would we then call them TWAT?
I didn’t mean to jump as vehemently as I did. You obviously know the difference which is a good thing.
However, not everyone does. I’ve seen many a freeper espouse the Posse Commitatus (the group, not the act) nonsense that the county sheriff is the ultimate political and law enforcement power in his/her jurisdiction. Which as we’ve been through, is not the case.
Even in my state, TX, it’s not the case. The Texas Rangers have jurisdiction over all other local law enforcement. One of their duties is to investigate complaints against county law enforcement.
Right before we started shedding cops they published a figure for the number of cops earning over $100K in NJ; they lost most public support at that point.”
I was actually still living in NJ when that happened. Cops in Mountainside and Springfiled that had 10-15 years on the force were all 90k a year, and many were over 100k. That’s just base salary. Add in all the benefits and OT (which much of is bullshit; shifts worked at time and a half or double time that aren’t necessary)and the compensation package was 150 to 200k a year.
Not bad money for a guy in his mid 30’s, usually with no more than a high school degree. I guess that explains why whenever there is an available job in these towns they get over 1000 qualified applicants competing for the job.
“Not bad money for a guy in his mid 30’s, usually with no more than a high school degree.”
A guy I know just “retired” from my town’s cops; he is 46 years old (finished 25 years on the job). That is why NJ is bankrupt; they’ll spend so much paying him they can’t hire his replacement...
Depending on how things fall out the next couple of weeks, I may be joining you in Texas again soon.
Warrior cops are those of us that will defend the Constitution no matter the consequences, all others are government bitches.
Steve Wozniak had no more than a “high school degree” when he engineered the Disk II in 1978 - in just two weeks prior to a trade show. Guess he was a dumb guy since he had less than a Bachelor’s at the time...
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