Cretins, Feebs and Murderers in Uniform
By: The Sceptic | 13Feb1999
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If you are a good cop and generally respectful to the public, this isn't about you. On the other hand, if the foo shits, wear it.
Of all the bullshit that's on television, year in and year out, cop shows of all kinds are my least favorite. They are unrealistic in one essential aspect: the bad cop is the exception. That has not been my experience. Just so you'll know, I have never been arrested -- not by civilian cops, anyway. (I had a little trouble when I was in the military, but that's another story which I may write some day.) I don't have a rap sheet. I've never been in the can. Here's my one good cop experience. I present it out of a sense of balance, so you'll know that I don't believe that all cops are incompetent, jackbooted thugs.
Fresh out of Navy basic training, I flew from San Diego to my Oregon to pick up my wife, car, personal belongings. We had to haul ass to Tennessee for my technical training. We hadn't even left Oregon when I flashing lights in the rearview. I pulled over, the officer said I was exceeding posted speed. I didn't deny it. He cited me. I said I'd send the fine when I got where I was going. "What's in Tennessee?", he asks. "A-School. I just got out of boot camp," I say. "Hey, I was in the Navy," he says. We talk for awhile. I start out again, with a more appropriate amount of pressure on the accelerator pedal. If you've had more than one encounter with the police, you probably realize that there is something about the job of police officer that draw some of the best and worst people. Because of my own experiences, I have come to the conclusion that the primary difference between many cops and most criminals is that cops are a little smarter -- smart enough to stay out of jail. Not necessarily too smart, however:
I work with a guy whose last name is Carpenter. He goes by the handle 'Carp'. A few months ago, he was pulled over by one of the local boys in blue. It seems the bull objected to the curse word on his license plate and wanted to confront him about it. Carp asks, "What word?" "Your license says CRAP," the cop says. (You know what it really said, right?)
In a cop's world, there are two kinds of people: law enforcement and perps. 'Perp' is their verbal shorthand for perpetrator -- possibly used because some have trouble pronouncing four-syllable words. This us-against-them attitude often displays itself when you or I are pulled over. We don't just have a tail light out; we may also be heroin-addicted, marijuana-growing serial rapists who have skipped bail, are armed and dangerous. At least, we will often be treated that way whether ours names come up in their computer or not. In many places -- Chicago, to name one recently in the news if they need a bust to make themselves look good, many are quite willing to plant evidence to get it. If the cops can get something to stick, you can go to prison where the guards (i.e., cops who can't pass the police exam) abuse you, rape you, or both. Some police officers are frightened when they stop a car. They have siege mentality -- and no wonder, given how they treat people. If you packed a gun and threatened random strangers for a living, you too might worry that someone was going to cap your ass eventually. Cops have the pistol, the nightstick, the shotgun in the patrol car and all the backup they need. In any encounter, they are right; you are wrong; and even if you were right, what's your recourse after they've clubbed you to the ground because you made a "false move", or shot you to death because they were afraid of how you put your hand in your pocket. No matter how savage and unjustified are the attack on innocents, the attackers almost always get away with it -- because they are the police. If the offense is public enough, a few hands are slapped, there is a few days of administrative leave. Then the offender is sent back out, more dangerous than before because the idea that he's legally bulletproof has been reinforced.
I was an eyewitness. A cop slammed a fifty-some year old man face-first against a car and whacked him twice across the back of the neck with a nightstick. His crime? The officer asked to see his drivers license. The 'perp' was overweight and tall, but his car was a compact. The only way he could get into his back pocket to retrieve his wallet was to get out of the car first and the pig panicked. This is siege mentality in action. Can you tell that I pretty much despise cops?
Sheriff's deputies walked into my home and took away a two-year-old girl, of which I was legal guardian. They handed her over to her natural father waiting outside -- a known child molester with a rap sheet. When I tried to explain what they were doing -- tried to get them to look at the legal documents with a judge's signature -- they refused! They were right; I was wrong; and even when it turned out that I was right, the girl still lived in a hellhole for several months until we literally kidnapped her to get her out of there. For at least eighteen months after that incident, she went into hysterics every time someone knocked on the door. She still cries sometimes when she sees a uniformed police officer or patrol car. Even though I'm sure that not every one of them is a useless, incompetent, cock-walloping, shit-for-brains fuck -- there seems to be a preponderance of exactly that, in my experience.
A couple years ago, cops pulled over my wife, found that her name and general description (white, female) was similar to someone wanted in Pennsylvania for some drug offense. (She's never even been there.) They put her in the cooler. I went down to the station to try to straighten the situation out -- explain that I'd known her for a long time, that she's never been in PA, that they've made a simple mistake. They were so goddamn sure of themselves, so cocky. At the same time, I was treated with great suspicion and how dare I even question their big score -- a fugitive druggie from across the country? They were right; I was wrong; and even when it turned out that I was right, she still sat in a cell for over three days. It still cost me $1000 for an attorney to point out to a judge what I had been telling the swine all along, so she wouldn't be extradited. Charges were dropped. Nobody apologized.
Four NYC cops shot an unarmed, innocent man a week or so ago. Forty-one pops and only nineteen hits. Does that sound like panic, induced by siege mentality to you? I won't re-tell the whole story, but there were a couple of sections in a 06Feb99 New York Times article that really stuck in my mind:
Meanwhile, Mayor Giuliani, who said he welcomed Federal involvement, appealed for calm and patience until the facts were in. He said that the police officers all had good records and that the victim, a street peddler who worked on 14th Street in Manhattan, had no police record. Three paragraphs later:
The officers -- Edward McMellon, 26, Sean Carroll, 35, Kenneth Boss, 27, and Richard Murphy, 26, all members of a street crimes unit composed of some of the city's most aggressive and decorated officers -- were on administrative leave, and had not been questioned by investigators for their department or the Bronx District Attorney's office. Did you catch that? Good record = most aggressive. One more:
Thus, no comment was the official response to the unanswered questions: why an unarmed man with no police record was shot at all, and why so many times. I believe the answer to that question was indicated earlier. To the mayor -- and to the law enforcement community in general -- a good cop is an aggressive cop. It's Giuliani time in NYC. If an innocent, unarmed person of color gets riddled by a few of the City's finest or if another person of color gets butt-fucked with a nightstick in the police station -- well, that's a small price to pay to make sure the criminals don't take over our streets. At least, not until we get them into a uniform, anyway.
Here's how it usually comes out: Unusually brutal behavior (as opposed to the day-to-day kind) gets the attention of the media. People get pissed. An investigation is begun -- but then they drag out long enough that by the time they are over, the media has turned their attention elsewhere. Too many times, overly aggressive psychopaths in uniform are put back on the beat. Think about that, next time you are pulled over. As long as people lack self-control, there will be police. As I indicated at the beginning, there are some decent people wearing the uniform, who treat people with respect. As for the rest... If someone is going to slam me up against a car, shake me down, hold me against my will, extract wads of money from my bank account, or decide to shoot me on a whim, I don't know whether it makes any difference whether it's regular thug or the kind in uniform with the pretty badge. Also see... | ||||
I watched a television program called COPS a few weeks ago. I'll never watch it again. Something struck me about that program -- something I believe doesn't occur to most viewers, or it wouldn't be such a popular show. At the beginning of the program there was a disclaimer that all suspects were presumed innocent until proven guilty. Most viewers don't believe that, of course. They 'know' that the scumbags they are seeing are getting their rightful dues at the hands of the police. That's the draw of the show. If any of the suspects were actually innocent, the way some of them were treated would seem unjustified to Jane and Joe Average, watching the program. If Jane and Joe were ever treated in a similar fashion by a police officer, they would likely be angry. If they had experienced or seen it happen to other innocent people more than once, they probably wouldn't be able to sit and watch COPS without the gorge rising in their throat -- as it did in mine.
If you tend to look a bit disreputable (as do I), have a little bad luck (I've had my share), and drive a 'hippy' car like my Volkswagen bus, you run into law enforcement. Cop encounters are rarely pleasant, I suppose, but why are the fuckers so rude and aggressive?
Problem is, it's Guiliani time across the country -- even in my town. Over the past two years, we have had several police shootings of unarmed men. In one case, barely over a year ago, the cops were so trigger-happy that after the "suspects" were down, they popped a few more caps into their dead bodies. The local newspaper editorialized that the police chief should resign. He posted a response on their web site, attempting to justify his officers. It has
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