When Defending Cops Becomes Impossible

[DB]

On 7/31/2024 at 2:34 AM, Tim Sielbeck said:

Not quite.  There is a W Va. judge that recently lost her AI because she wasn’t acting properly.  And didn’t an Austin prosecutor get sued for withholding evidence within the last two decades?

Coming late to this party, but there is a difference between protection from litigation and protection from consequences.

In this case, just because the judge can't be prosecuted doesn't mean they can't be fired. Similarly, if someone with immunity is found to have lied in court and that has resulted in an incorrect verdict, there would be grounds for appeal at the least, on the grounds that the verdict was unsafe.

What seems to have gone missing here is that somewhere the responsibility to "play the game" properly has been lost by some (many?) and the protection they receive from malicious prosecution (the immunity, however qualified) is being misused. Enforce the professional standards properly and this problem goes away.

It sems to me that at least the following should be considered (some or all of which may be present in some parts of US police/sheriff departments, but not all).

- Minimum standard professional training. Follow a national standard training regime (or demonstrably equivalent alternative) to gain a departmental certification.

- Professional code of conduct. Violations to be investigated professionally, by an independent body and proven infractions result in gross misconduct dismissal and disbarment (highest level of possible punishment)

- National register of disbarred ex-officers to prevent jurisdiction-hopping power trippers.

I know that many dislike the idea of national (essentially for the US meaning Federal) level interference, but the intent here would be to establish a common level of competence and consistency so that citizens would have a common understanding of what to expect from law enforcement, wherever they meet it. If a non-Federal arrangement would work, then have at it. There could be State-level cooperation on developing such initiatives, that way you get to choose at State level whether you want to join in the initiative.

Of course, unions could do something useful and lead on the officer competence front, as if they were a traditional skills guild, but if the accounts here are anything to go by, that's not what they do in the US.

[Murph]

A bad cop is a bad cop, no caveats, and they need to be removed from the profession.  But good cops who are doing a job in a terrible world do not need to be punished because of "optics".  

[NickM]

Didn't Donut Operator have LOTSA DEI failures in the Po=Po? I recall a bunch of male NYPD (?) officers trying physically overpower a guy trying to grab the holstered weapon away from one of 'em, and the clearly bloated, overweight wymmyn DEI hire fired a couple pistol shots into the room 'to help out'---I think one or two of the other officers physically ejected her from the apartment before she got anybody killed.  Another where three other bloated DEI (Chiraq PD?) wymmyn hires tried to restrain a single male shoplifter and failed?  Then there's one where the 'Girlboss' clumsily executes a trailer entry with 'her team' and when shots start flying, she runs out and cowers==right in the line of fire but outside of the trailer?

[rmgill]

He or Angry Cops. Officer Tatum has had a few as well. 

Here's one....

 

[Ivanhoe]

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-09-03/oakland-police-officer-home-illegal-weed-grow
 

Quote

 

When officers of the state Department of Cannabis Control swooped in on a neighborhood in the Bay Area city of Antioch this spring, they found what they were looking for — about $1 million in illegal marijuana — and one surprise.

One of the three houses they raided was owned by an officer of the Oakland Police Department.

In an email, the department confirmed that it “is aware of the allegations made against one of our members and is cooperating with outside law enforcement agencies on the case.”

The officer was placed on administrative leave April 30, and the matter is under investigation, the statement said.

 

There's that old saying, cops have the best dope.

[rmgill]

He was just staying there. It's not his house. It's his cousin's house. He has no idea how it got there. He doesn't know his cousin's name.  

[NickM]

34 minutes ago, rmgill said:

He was just staying there. It's not his house. It's his cousin's house. He has no idea how it got there. He doesn't know his cousin's name.  

DEI Oakland cop?

[rmgill]

5 minutes ago, NickM said:

DEI Oakland cop?

I was more citing the oft heard responses to someone found with drugs in their pants. 

These aren't my pants! I don't don't know how these got here. These are my cousin's pants! When asked for the cousin's name, the response is slow as if trying to make up a name of someone not his cousin. 

[JWB]

41 minutes ago, NickM said:

DEI Oakland cop?

PRC

https://www.foxnews.com/us/chinese-nationals-operate-nearly-illegal-indoor-marijuana-farm-largest-us-county-sergeant-says

[JWB]

No end to the ineptitude.

 

[Murph]

DEI hires are pretty stupid and this proves it.

[Tim Sielbeck]

 

[Mr King]

10 minutes ago, Tim Sielbeck said:

 

I worked in a photo lab during the golden age of film photography before everything was replaced by digital. I got quite a few nude photos, and while I was a dumb kid and the temptation was great at times to make copies, I never did. Though the photos of a very stacked petite redhead and her girlfriends having fun in a big bathtub will forever be burned into my memory lol.

 

[JWB]

Yep, he did.

 

[Murph]

Yeah, that is why a good IA office is needed.  

[Murph]

Ok, this is just embarrassing:

https://www.sfgate.com/cannabis/article/lapd-cannabis-mri-raid-19789448.php

An officer with the Los Angeles Police Department found out the hard way that you can’t take metal near an MRI machine after their rifle flew out of their hands and became attached to the machine during a pot raid gone bad, according to a federal lawsuit filed last week.

 

 

[sunday]

1 hour ago, Murph said:

Ok, this is just embarrassing:

https://www.sfgate.com/cannabis/article/lapd-cannabis-mri-raid-19789448.php

An officer with the Los Angeles Police Department found out the hard way that you can’t take metal near an MRI machine after their rifle flew out of their hands and became attached to the machine during a pot raid gone bad, according to a federal lawsuit filed last week.

 

 

Officer Smart also quenched the MRI scanner, wrecking it...

[rmgill]

Oof, that had to have been messy. 

"You can't take that in here!"
" I CAN GO ANYWHERE I WANT TO!"
*FOOPCLANG!!!!*
"uhhhh...."
"Told ya!"

Good thing it was dangling in his hand any not attached with a good sling, officer dufus would have probably had a rather serious injury. 

Can you imagine several of them running in and each in turn getting sucked into the machine?

Edited September 27 by rmgill

[sunday]

Not sucked into, but glued to the machine. That could have been quite nasty. If the rifles were AR-15-like, then they were fortunate, as a full steel rifle would have been attracted with a lot more force.

[rmgill]

31 minutes ago, sunday said:

Not sucked into, but glued to the machine. That could have been quite nasty. If the rifles were AR-15-like, then they were fortunate, as a full steel rifle would have been attracted with a lot more force.

Depending on where the magnetic field takes it, it can be magnetically pulled in or merely onto it. Sucked is of course the wrong term for pedants, but then so is glued.
😉


Imagine 2-3 of those officers all pulled in based on their belts. Talk about messy. 

[Ivanhoe]

Not to worry, their f-up is only going to cost the taxpayers about $10M.

 

[Ivanhoe]

In a rational world, the LEOs would be in the dock for felony charges;

 

[NickM]

Just now, Murph said:

Ok, this is just embarrassing:

https://www.sfgate.com/cannabis/article/lapd-cannabis-mri-raid-19789448.php

An officer with the Los Angeles Police Department found out the hard way that you can’t take metal near an MRI machine after their rifle flew out of their hands and became attached to the machine during a pot raid gone bad, according to a federal lawsuit filed last week.

 

 

Thought weed whiffin' was legal in Cali....

[Tim Sielbeck]

Yes, but unlicensed cannabis businesses are not.  

[NickM]

Just now, Tim Sielbeck said:

Yes, but unlicensed cannabis businesses are not.  

oooo tax dodging.  I wonder if the cartels are 'muscling in' on the act.

I remember the 'legalize' crowd going: oh look at carlos he just deals drugs (as if he'd be ashamed') 'what will the cartels do now that weed's legal? They'll just fade away' Other than extortion, protection, kidnapping, black market weapons, untaxed ciggies, untaxed gasoline' ect?