Corruption Defines Law Enforcement in America

[georgephillip]

Are you among those who believe cops will judge you based on laws and rights afforded by the US Constitution, or do you find yourself in agreement with Jack London's sentiments first expressed over a century ago?
"In a speech titled 'The Tramp' he gave in 1902, Jack London described the police as 'the right arm of the corporate power of our great cities…' Their job, he asserted, was to keep despised minorities, including the homeless and jobless, out of sight and out of the way.

Police corruption today often takes an ideological form and its payoffs come in the form of personal power, according to this view authored by Douglas Valentine:
"Cops get to feel extra-special: they can kill with impunity, or turn their backs on the mayor and disrespect him in public (in a way they would never tolerate) for attempting to make reforms that are ideological in nature."

The True Relationship Between Crime and Law Enforcement CounterPunch Tells the Facts Names the Names

 

[georgephillip]

At age 18 author Douglas Valentine spent the summer after his first year at college working in his hometown. His workdays began at a local diner, divided down the middle by the Vietnam generation gap:
"Living and working in the village that summer was stifling. But I was trapped. So every morning I went to the diner for breakfast, and would sit on the side with the guys my age, while my father, who’d just gotten off the graveyard shift at the Post Office, sat with the local cops and village workers on the other side, in the corner by the kitchen door where the chef was scrambling eggs and pouring orange juice while frantically reading the Racing Form and Daily News.

"It was a high testosterone crowd; everyone was talking sports and placing bets on games, and one guy was writing it all down.

"These were the pre-Off Track Betting days of 'the generation gap.'

"My dad, the chef, the village workers and the cops hated Muhammad Ali, the Vietnamese, and Joe Willie Namath.

"They were racist and sexist and proud of their prejudices.

"Those things defined them."

The True Relationship Between Crime and Law Enforcement CounterPunch Tells the Facts Names the Names

 

[georgephillip]

Douglas and his dad, a WWII combat veteran, hadn't exchanged a civil word since the former left for college, but one morning the dad asked the son to meet him much earlier than normal the following morning:
"I didn’t ask why, and he didn’t say. Periodically he gave life lessons; it was how he operated. He knew I’d do what he said, and I knew I’d do it.

"The next morning we parked and met over at the bank, bleary-eyed and half-awake. We walked down the main drag, past the police station, past the train station..."

"We walked in silence till we got to the candy store, and then turned right and started walking toward the diner. A delivery truck was parked out front beside another car I recognized.

"The diner hadn’t opened yet, and they were the only vehicles on the street.

"My father stepped into the street and I followed him. He stood behind the delivery truck. Wondering what the hell was going on, I watched while he threw open the doors.

"The guy who took down (gamblers) names and numbers was sitting in the front passenger seat beside the delivery truck driver; three village cops were sitting on boxes in the back of the truck.

"Cash and slips of paper were being exchanged.

“'Take a good look,' my father said. 'This is the true relationship between crime and law enforcement.'”

The True Relationship Between Crime and Law Enforcement CounterPunch Tells the Facts Names the Names

 

[Mac1958]

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Here we go again...

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[georgephillip]

Here we go again...

Does that mean you're in agreement with Jack London?
"In a speech titled 'The Tramp' he gave in 1902, Jack London described the police as 'the right arm of the corporate power of our great cities…' Their job, he asserted, was to keep despised minorities, including the homeless and jobless, out of sight and out of the way."
The True Relationship Between Crime and Law Enforcement CounterPunch Tells the Facts Names the Names

 

[Mac1958]

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It means we're going to have (yet) another anti-cop thread by people who will claim not to be anti-cop.

Ironically, these will be the same people who ignore/avoid/overlook the actions that a couple of recent "victims" -- who were law-breakers -- took that contributed to their deaths.

But by all means, run with it.

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[georgephillip]

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It means we're going to have (yet) another anti-cop thread by people who will claim not to be anti-cop.

Ironically, these will be the same people who ignore/avoid/overlook the actions that a couple of recent "victims" -- who were law-breakers -- took that contributed to their deaths.

But by all means, run with it.

.

"In 2014, cops are so far removed from the public that there is no hope of bridging the gap.

"Battle lines have been drawn, and you’re either with them or against them.

"They will judge you on that basis, not according to laws or any rights you think the Constitution and Bill of Rights afford you."

The True Relationship Between Crime and Law Enforcement CounterPunch Tells the Facts Names the Names

Which side are you on, the Constitution or the cops?

 

[Mac1958]

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Another great example, thanks.

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[OKTexas]

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It means we're going to have (yet) another anti-cop thread by people who will claim not to be anti-cop.

Ironically, these will be the same people who ignore/avoid/overlook the actions that a couple of recent "victims" -- who were law-breakers -- took that contributed to their deaths.

But by all means, run with it.

.

"In 2014, cops are so far removed from the public that there is no hope of bridging the gap.

"Battle lines have been drawn, and you’re either with them or against them.

"They will judge you on that basis, not according to laws or any rights you think the Constitution and Bill of Rights afford you."

The True Relationship Between Crime and Law Enforcement CounterPunch Tells the Facts Names the Names

Which side are you on, the Constitution or the cops?

You're full of shit, I have never had a problem with any law enforcement that I have encountered. I've always shown them respect and they have done the same to me.

 

[georgephillip]

You're full of shit, I have never had a problem with any law enforcement that I have encountered. I've always shown them respect and they have done the same to me.

What do you imagine that proves?
I've never experience any abusive behavior from cops either, but I'm not willing to say abusive cops don't exist or that local district attorneys handle charges against police officers differently from civilians.

 

[OKTexas]

You're full of shit, I have never had a problem with any law enforcement that I have encountered. I've always shown them respect and they have done the same to me.

What do you imagine that proves?
I've never experience any abusive behavior from cops either, but I'm not willing to say abusive cops don't exist or that local district attorneys handle charges against police officers differently from civilians.

The generalized statements made by the OP don't apply to the vast majority of law enforcement and when the evidence supports charges I haven't seen any DA try to avoid getting an indictment.

 

[georgephillip]

The generalized statements made by the OP don't apply to the vast majority of law enforcement

The vast majority of law enforcement don't seem to hold their colleagues to the same standards they demand from the rest of society. And anyone who reveals abusive police practices is condemned, witness the NYPD-de-Blasio feud, instead of the abusive practices themselves.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/05/n...-of-wenjian-liu-killed-in-an-ambush.html?_r=0

 

[MikeK]

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It means we're going to have (yet) another anti-cop thread by people who will claim not to be anti-cop.

Ironically, these will be the same people who ignore/avoid/overlook the actions that a couple of recent "victims" -- who were law-breakers -- took that contributed to their deaths.

But by all means, run with it.

.

I understand the point you're making re: the two recent "victims" and I agree completely.

Having had a clear glimpse of just who and what Michael Brown was via the convenience store video I have no reason to doubt anything the cop who killed him had to say about the encounter. The simple fact of the matter is what I saw in that video totally prejudiced me against Brown and I believe killing him prevented the many miseries which that bullying punk would have brought on others if he had lived.

So in my opinion it was Michael Brown's criminally aggressive nature that brought about his death. Patrolman Wilson simply reacted in a manner which Brown provoked and richly deserved. Too bad the incident has so negatively affected Wilson's life.

Eric Garner was not killed by a "chokehold." If he was he would have died on the sidewalk, not in an ambulance where he died of asthmatic asphyxiation as a result of his violent resistance to being arrested. But that does not excuse the stupidly incompetent manner in which the arrest attempt was conducted.

There was nothing criminal about the way Garner was handled. The sloppy arrest attempt was clearly the result of improper supervision and inadequate training. The obvious question is why a Taser wasn't used to bring Garner down, or why he wasn't pepper-sprayed to diminish his resistance, rather than jumping him like football players and nearly collapsing through a plate-glass window.

At the bottom line there is absolutely no reason to criminally indict any of those cops. But that does not mean there are plenty of examples of excessive and unnecessary force used by cops.

 

[OKTexas]

The generalized statements made by the OP don't apply to the vast majority of law enforcement

The vast majority of law enforcement don't seem to hold their colleagues to the same standards they demand from the rest of society. And anyone who reveals abusive police practices is condemned, witness the NYPD-de-Blasio feud, instead of the abusive practices themselves.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/05/n...-of-wenjian-liu-killed-in-an-ambush.html?_r=0

Keep swallowing the propaganda there bub DeBlasio made blanket statements about the NYPD, much like you have and doesn't deserve anyone's respect. No need to reply, i'm done with your screwed up thread.

 

[Stephanie]

You're full of shit, I have never had a problem with any law enforcement that I have encountered. I've always shown them respect and they have done the same to me.

What do you imagine that proves?
I've never experience any abusive behavior from cops either, but I'm not willing to say abusive cops don't exist or that local district attorneys handle charges against police officers differently from civilians.

then stick with that instead your board bush painting them all as crooks and criminals
and you don't like our justice system go become an attorney first then try to become a judge or just stuff it

 

[georgephillip]

then stick with that instead your board bush painting them all as crooks and criminals
and you don't like our justice system go become an attorney first then try to become a judge or just stuff it

If you don't like racist cops, stay out of New York!

 

[georgephillip]