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Police harassment

Thought you might like this. It came through my email.

Subject: POLICE HARASSMENT

Recently, a California website ran an e-mail forum (a question and answer exchange) where the topic was "Policing the Community."
One of the civilian email participants posed the following question: *"I would like to know how it is possible for police officers to continually harass people and get away with it?"*
From the "other side" (the law enforcement side) a cool cop with a sense of humor replied:
It is not easy. In California we average one cop for every
2,000 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 given moment and are available for harassing people. So, one cop is responsible for harassing 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 for harassing 20,000 or more people each 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 then 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 people 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 weeknight is, "The kids next door are having a loud 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 stickers 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 driving drunk, or they have an outstanding 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 Professional Codes, to name a few. They 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 permission to harass this guy. It is a pretty cool system that we have set up, and it works pretty well.
We seem to have a never-ending supply of folks to harass. And we get away with it. Why? Because the good citizens who pay the tab actually like the fact that we keep the streets safe for them. Next time you are in my town, give me a single finger wave. That will be a signal that you wish for me to take a little closer look at you, and then maybe I'll find a reason to harass YOU.
Looking forward to meeting you!
Fred
 
LOL! That's awesome!

It is kinda sad how some people can't appreciate what cops do because they're ignorant. But whoever recieved the cop's response probably shut up pretty fast. xD

-(Kyle)-
 
Too funny Rose, I loved the statement on runners!
 
lol that's good. Copper and Wolf keep up the great work,

Zac
 
Hahaha! Very nice!

There are good cops and bad cops, same as in any other profession, but I hold a lot of respect for you guys (and gals!) and am similarly annoyed by people making accusations about all cops harassing people and that nonsense. Anyhoo, very funny.
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My share of experiences with police can be considered harrasment.
 
That's pretty good!
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Jerry
 
I have a lot of respect for most police and saw some handle a couple difficult situations with a combination of strength and grace that was hard to believe.  But harassment is real and the lowest form of scum is a bad cop.
 
Agreed, but I have only met a few bad cops in a large flock. Most are hard working guys and gals. Part of it is that we are faced with the bad minority most of the time and get a little rough around the edges.
 
  • #10
*chuckle*

Cute. I like the "single finger salute."
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  • #11
I have received quite a few of those
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  • #12
So have I, but I don't get to pull them over for a broken taillight afterwards
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  • #13
I know there is good law enforcement, but let me share my story-

CA has this uber retarted law where if you're under the age of 18, you can't be outside by yourself after 10:30 p.m., or before 1:00 p.m. So, I was late for school one morning (supposed to be there at 8:30), and I always have to take a trolley and then the city bus. It's rather unreliable in a timely manner, and it's a long 45 min trip. So, I'm waiting at the bus stop after I take the trolley, peacefuly waiting and minding my own buisness. San Diego now enforces this law like Nazi Germany. So, this old as crap female officer comes up to everyone on the trolley platform (adjacent to the bus stops), and asks for age and I.D. without any provocation but to check for teenagers. Swear this must be against the constitution. So she comes around to me, and I tell her my real age even though I can pass for 18. So she quarantines me with a couple other girls my age. The officers let them go, because they had some sort of BS excuse. I, told the dumb officers I was on my way to freakin school, but they didn't let me go. I had my backpack on with my books and everything. So, they procede to stuff me into the cop car, and haul me off to the school. Know what the real kicker is? The dang bus beat us there. I was pissed beyond imagination. After I got to the school (the San Diego school district is a real piece of crap like you've never seen), they issue me a ticket for what was either loitering or truancy. I believe it was loitering. This, in my mind and those I know, was really unnescesary and I believe it was rascist, racial profiling. It was wrong on many levels. In any event, I won the case in Juvenile court, and was released with no fine or penalty. It's crap like this that makes me dislike law enforcement
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. There is an obvious lack of integrity among their ranks.
 
  • #14
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]but I don't get to pull them over for a broken taillight afterwards

That's right, we're not allowed to. That's why what you do is break 'em so someone else can.
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  • #15
[b said:
Quote[/b] (lol @ Dec. 07 2005,2:58)]My share of experiences with police can be considered harrasment.
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i had a gun held to my head once, my friend and i, that same night the taxes were due in april.  
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  • #16
I've never had any problem with LEOs because
1) I was always obedient in public;
2) Polite and honest to any officers who'd address themselves to me.

A former friend wasn't so lucky when a few bored individuals pulled him over and framed him for Cannabis possession. Thankfully, he hates the stuff, the labs never found any fingerprints on the bag except those of the arresting officers, and the urine tests resulted negative. He was driving drunk though. Good thing I have no respect for him anymore anyway!

Now, immigration officers at airports? They can be real..... Over the summer I flew to Chicago O'Hare and was deported straight back to the UK because my passport "wasn't good enough", and what I suspect is they thought I was a trrrist (W accent). "Well yes, I am, officer - just another tourist who wants to visit his friends in Michigan!" I happen to look a little Middle-Eastern at times due to my mixed background (Asian/Caucasian), and I used to have a bushy goatee.
What a waste of money, time and energy, and what's more, my girlfriend had driven 3 hours to the airport, waited for about 3 more, and never got to see me.
 
  • #17
That is truly a bummer.  I had not heard of that being done.  Did they give a reason for your passport not being good enough?  Because the picture was old?  It not like you have to replace the picture when you change hair styles.  Ouch!



lol, that sucked as well, but I do not know the officer's side of things. Please do not look down on all officers for what happened. I have a lot of people here that do not like me for one thing or another, like doing my job. I do not know about officer integrity there, but it is pretty high here (especially right here, with me) Integrity if everything with me and thankfully with my Chief. He has fired officers (or suspended them) just for the lie. It has not happened often. But, again please do not hold all accountable for the actions of a few - is that not profiling and bigotry as well. (I hate doughnuts!) I hope things get better where you are.
 
  • #18
There are reasons why I wasn't allowed into the country - passport wasn't machine readable, though they can make exceptions since it was my Belgian one. Also, I had it renewed when I lived in Mexico, and the Belgian embassy... well, let's just put it this way - all passports were handwritten even well into year 2000! They're still primitive though, considering they still have to send all documents to the "homeland" and getting the new passport takes 3 weeks. The Japanese embassy on the other hand can have your passport ready on the same day, on the spot.
Oh well, all for homeland security though, can't argue. They could've treated me a little nicer though, and at least let my parents know I was OK (they didn't let me use the phone for 3.5 hours!)
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