Posted on 09/18/2009 9:30:23 AM PDT by George - the Other
I don’t think you understand what “random” really is.
Nearly every one of the incidents can be traced to the fact that we declared a “war”, and the cops are fighting it.
One of the few things I agree with in the badly-made and badly-acted Billy Jack movies was where Billy says something like “When the police break the law there is no law but a fight for survival.” Unfortunately, this is becoming more and more systemic, which indicates a grave pathology in our social and political system. Where do you go for justice when the courts are unjust? Where do you go for protection when the police are corrupt? Where do you go for honest political representation when the election system is bereft of integrity?
Maryland “Freak State” PING!
I do tend to be a pessimist and fatalist, I look at these units as a something that will be hard to ever reverse. They have become the American Cossacks.
WTF? How could bringing in a bunch of 8-footers lead one to suspect crinimal activity?
I have never been “swatted” but in high school I shared an apartment with a roommate and a guest friend, one night Houston police came in while we were asleep, woke us, arrested us for disturbing the peace and when we got out the next day and returned home our locks had been changed and the apartment was empty.
Not me!
County leaders are just like any other elected official in office too long.
They become accustomed to power and come to look at the common citizen as merely a supplier of tax dollars and unfortunately someone to kiss up to for votes occasionally.
What is a little surprising is that they do not seem concerned about one of their own being violated. This guy was a fairly important person.
Perhaps he wasn’t popular in the county power structure or maybe he was of the wrong Party. Is he perhaps one of the much despised R’s.
Our militarized “law enforcement” agencies are the standing army our Founders feared.
I would think it natural for a bureaucracy slapped with a lawsuit to hunker down and confess nothing. That’s the nature of the beast.
wow...I’m sure that was “justice” for somebody.../s
Do any of you Freepers remember a case in the Malibu hills several years ago. An LA County sheriff’s helicopter noticed what it thought was marijuana growing in the hills above Malibu. They checked out the ownership and found out who the owner was. The deputies raided the guys house on the property early in the morning. As the cops moved in the owner, not knowing what was going on, grabbed a gun, and was shot dead by the police. It was later found there was no marijuana growing on the property and the house was actually in Ventura Country. For a few days it got a lot of publicity but then the story died down. It was later revealed the deputies never made a ground inspection of the property to determine if Marijuana was actually growing on the property. Talk about sloppy police work.
Sounds like the same type scam. Driver was the drug courier, and somehow the "package" got misrouted to our office.
Complicating matters is that our company IT gets all sorts of weird deliveries from clients and workers in the field, so we're the "catch-all" for unmarked/mislabled/whatever packages. Fortunately, I hadn't done the pickup that day and the package was just sitting on the dock. I'm assuming that there was just drugs in the box, who knows, though.
No SWAT teams, no drawn weapons, no real stress, though. Just a lot of really curious detectives wanting to talk to me, my boss (who fortunately for me wasn't there because he's a complete idiot that likely would have gotten me tossed in jail), my boss's boss, boss's boss's boss and so on.
The detectives were PISSED when they found out there was nothing nefarious going on. I think that they'd been setting this up for awhile, and the screwup in delivery, screwed up their plans. Dunno though. Figured that it was best not to get too interested.
The National Park Service wanted that mans land as it adjoined a National Forest. So the NPS found an 'informant' who said the guy was growing weed figuring they'd get the property after it was 'forfeited'.
So the lie was told, a bogus Warrant based on a lie was issued, and a man was murdered in cold blood. His widow sued and won but not one single Government employee ever spent a single day in jail or paid so much as a five dollar fine.
Welcome to the War on (some)Drugs.
It sure served the apartment management, that was before SWAT teams existed by the way.
Law enforcement has always been casually and unselfconsciously corrupt, it wants to collect it’s pay, serve those in power and authority and in return receive it’s thrills from being massively powerful and terribly feared among the weak and invisible.
When you wonder how the system at the top can be so corrupt and incestuous (forever), think low hanging fruit.
Throughout our entire lives generation after generation we watch as our massive law enforcement budgets go towards the crime at the bottom of the food chain, at the final criminal transaction level. I wonder what would happen if about 20 or 30% of law enforcement energy in a place like Philadelphia was directed at the men and women in suits and offices.
Badge-lappers on deck in 3... 2... 1...
It lasted two years.But my former chief gave a good reference to my next (private) employer.I am of the opinion NO ONE should be permitted to spend more than half his working life in government funded service of all types combined.
We can’t ‘win’ the war-on-drugs without turning this country into a police state it is becoming. The drug warriors will disagree and think more militarized police and prisons are needed. We should decriminalize all personal possession like Portugal did. They’re having good results, less crime, less spent on cops, courts, and prisons; more citizen cooperation and trust and their druggie problems haven’t gotten worse to the chagrin of the drug warriors.
You are about to learn that there are legions in number on this forum that will tell you that the police can do no wrong. Whatever happened to you you brought it upon yourself.
Furthermore, if you have the gall to say that some cops may be crooks, you hate all law enforcement and cops. Not only that but you also hate your mother, grndmother, and probably the family dog also.
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