A Brief History
On October 8, 2013, a 66-year-old Denver, Colorado man and his 35-year-old female partner were accused of felonious child abuse in a sickening case of neglect and mistreatment. The four boys, ages two to six, were malnourished, did not speak or have any sort of education and were kept in filthy conditions, with cat feces and urine throughout the insect-infested house. Only able to communicate through grunts to the horrified child authorities, the filthy children could not even describe their mistreatment. Unfortunately, police have to confront terrible crimes like this on a regular basis, a depressing and stressful part of the job of law enforcement officers. We already told you about 10 Things Police Know That You Might Not Know and today we will present 10 more.
Digging Deeper
10. Stop and Frisk is not racist.
In the Supreme Court decision Terry v. Ohio, police can stop and frisk someone for engaging in suspicious behavior that the cop can articulate. This does not mean that anyone can be shaken down anytime, only when they are acting in a suspicious manner. If the cop, however, cannot convince a judge the behavior was suspicious, all evidence will be thrown out. Should this technique of preventative, proactive policing be eliminated, crime would guaranteed go up. Ask New Yorkers and the people of Baltimore. When you demand that police fight crime, be prepared to put up with some occasional inconvenience, and cooperate, please.
9. Cops forget that not everyone is a criminal, a moron, a drunk or a nut.
Most people cops deal with fall under one of the above-mentioned categories, and it sometimes becomes hard to remember that not everyone is like this. Most people rarely or never have interaction with police, whereas the misfits constantly do, leading cops to get a wrong impression of society. This is especially true for those working the night shift, where it seems like everyone you deal with is drunk. Any police supervisors out there reading this article might want to remind their police officers of this potential blunder.
8. Police cars are nothing special.
They may have nifty paint jobs, and many have V-8 engines, but most are beat to heck from daily use, often with suspect maintenance, and although the brakes, suspension and alternator may be the heavy-duty versions, they are not some kind of exclusive cop only thing. Even the SUVs you see dressed up in cop clothes are usually only 2-wheel drive. When you see a specialty vehicle, such as a Corvette or Mustang traffic car, it may be fast and sporty, but no more so than regular models of that type.
7. There is no justice.
To learn what a joke the public defender program is, simply read recent articles or watch John Oliver on HBO. Prosecutors, and sometimes cops, seem more interested in getting a conviction than in a fair trial, hence all those cases of hiding evidence and the like. It is often said in legal and police circles that you could easily indict a baloney sandwich. If the prosecutor wants the indictment, he will get it. Period. Rich people, celebrities, politicians and the like get away with all sorts of stuff, or get unrealistic puny punishments, while poor people often get creamed. If you try to fight a traffic ticket (or an infernal red light camera fine or photo-radar fine), good luck. Be prepared to make multiple trips to court and spend many times what the fine would have been, so even if you win, you lose. (No, you do not get reimbursed for expenses if you are found not guilty.)
6. Traditional police uniforms are terrible for police duty.
Low Oxford-type shoes with leather soles, dress-type pants, neckties, shiny badges that reflect light in the dark, heavy leather gear, Smokey the Bear hats (run or fight in that, hah!) and military type “Ike” jackets are all not designed for efficient mobility. Military-type uniforms such as cargo pants, nylon web gear and baseball or field caps are much more useful, and modern, lightweight ankle high or combat-type boots are better foot gear. Of course, then the public complains about the military appearance. Do you want efficiency or looks? It’s hard to have both.
5. Restaurants are gross.
Cops know this because of having to come out after hours to check burglaries and alarms. Kitchens are often greasy, stinky and dirty, with cockroaches roaming about and evidence of mice and/or rats. Of course, food preparation workers know this, too, but apparently most people do not because they still go to restaurants.
4. People are hypocrites, including Police.
This one you might already be aware of. Notice how politicians clamor for employees to take drug tests, and judges back them up the whole way, and yet politicians and judges never, ever, take drug tests. Then why do police and firemen, and the service department crew? Some police who enforce traffic laws sometimes violate them themselves, including drunk driving. As far as that goes, it seems like the biggest perverts are the holy rollers and clergy. Who often turn out to be gay? Gay bashers. This trend is, of course, not all inclusive, but it is obvious enough to constitute a generally true statement. Related to this entry, People Lie.
3. He/She Would Never Do That.
Yes, they would. The friends, relatives and neighbors you thought were so nice, gentle and basically sane and good hearted really can act somewhat differently under certain circumstances. Case in point was in Cleveland several years ago where a female doctor claimed police brutality and mistreatment, gaining a chorus of outraged supporters. That is until video of her arrest showed this distinguished woman cursing at the police and resisting her lawful arrest, while the police were as polite and professional as could be. People can act significantly different from normal when they are drunk, on drugs or agitated. Plus, many psychotic criminals put on a pretty good front.
2. People are nuts.
The seemingly “normal” people you stand in line with at Walmart may very well be weirdos who cover their electrical sockets with aluminum foil or have old newspapers and magazines stacked to the ceiling. When police arrive uninvited at the residence of some people, at all sorts of hours, they sometimes discover all sorts of crazy stuff going on. People do not wear signs proclaiming their nuttiness, but police find out who these people are soon enough. Perhaps it is an excessive number of pets, hoarding, paranoia or bizarre reports that a neighbor is a spy or alien or some such thing. So many people are crazy that it would startle and concern “normal” people to know this.
1. Police (and government employees) get cheated on Social Security.
In an absolutely sickening theft of social security contributions made by police officers (and any government employee with a “government” pension), the government only pays out about a third of normal social security payments to not only the pension earner, but also his/her spouse! Based on the idiotic theory that having a government pension and also collecting social security would be “double dipping,” the geniuses (who dream up novel ways to steal from working people) in Washington decided that workers could not receive their full social security earned. This is goofy because people who earn a UAW pension, a Teamsters pension, or any other pension, get their full social security payment in addition to that pension, but police, firemen, postal workers, teachers, city service department workers and all “government” employees get shorted out of 2/3 of their social security! The scheme to cheat workers is based on the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP), a fiendish bit of legislation from 1983. Efforts by government unions to eliminate this miscarriage of justice continue to fall flat.
Question for students (and subscribers) to ponder: Have you ever wanted to be a police officer?
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Historical Evidence
Donald, Heather Mac. The War on Cops: How the New Attack on Law and Order Makes Everyone Less Safe. Encounter Books, 2016.
