General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsConfessions of a Former Bastard Cop
https://medium.com/OfcrACab/confessions-of-a-former-bastard-cop-bb14d17bc759This essay has been kicking around in my head for years now and Ive never felt confident enough to write it. Its a time in my life Im ashamed of. Its a time that I hurt people and, through inaction, allowed others to be hurt. Its a time that I acted as a violent agent of capitalism and white supremacy. Under the guise of public safety, I personally ruined peoples lives but in so doing, made the public no safer so did the family members and close friends of mine who also bore the badge alongside me.
But enough is enough.
The reforms arent working. Incrementalism isnt happening. Unarmed Black, indigenous, and people of color are being killed by cops in the streets and the police are savagely attacking the people protesting these murders.
American policing is a thick blue tumor strangling the life from our communities and if you dont believe it when the poor and the marginalized say it, if you dont believe it when you see cops across the country shooting journalists with less-lethal bullets and caustic chemicals, maybe youll believe it when you hear it straight from the pigs mouth.
It's a long read and every paragraph is worth excerpting. Some of the comments below have excerpts.
tblue37
(65,477 posts)underpants
(182,861 posts)I alluded to this above: the vast majority of calls for service I handled were theft reports, burglary reports, domestic arguments that hadnt escalated into violence, loud parties, (houseless) people loitering, traffic collisions, very minor drug possession, and arguments between neighbors. Mostly the mundane ups and downs of life in the community, with little inherent danger. And, like I mentioned, the vast majority of crimes I responded to (even violent ones) had already happened; my unaccountable license to kill was irrelevant.
What I mainly provided was an objective third party with the authority to document property damage, ask people to chill out or disperse, or counsel people not to beat each other up. A trained counselor or conflict resolution specialist would be ten times more effective than someone with a gun strapped to his hip wondering if anyone would try to kill him when he showed up. There are many models for community safety that can be explored if we get away from the idea that the only way to be safe is to have a man with a M4 rifle prowling your neighborhood ready at a moments notice to write down your name and birthday after youve been robbed and beaten.
niyad
(113,510 posts)chia
(2,244 posts)If youre tempted to feel sympathy for me, dont. I used to happily hassle the homeless under other circumstances. I researched obscure penal codes so I could arrest people in homeless encampments for lesser known crimes like remaining too close to railroad property (369i of the California Penal Code). I used to call it planting warrant seeds since I knew they wouldnt make their court dates and we could arrest them again and again for warrant violations.
We used to have informal contests for who could cite or arrest someone for the weirdest law. DUI on a bicycle, non-regulation number of brooms on your tow truck (27700(a)(1) of the California Vehicle Code) shit like that. For me, police work was a logic puzzle for arresting people, regardless of their actual threat to the community. As ashamed as I am to admit it, it needs to be said: stripping people of their freedom felt like a game to me for many years.
Wednesdays
(17,398 posts)It would probably have been cheaper in the long run to just give them a roof over their heads and three square a day, only without the bars. Certainly a whole lot less hassle.
Beartracks
(12,821 posts)Referring to your full post, obviously, not just the subject line.
===========
Nevilledog
(51,170 posts)handmade34
(22,756 posts)much to ponder in it... I recognize (in this essay) some people I've known in the past
A HERETIC I AM
(24,376 posts)The author speaks about a subject not often discussed.
The entire policing culture is rotten.
This country can do better, but it is remarkable how many people are perfectly happy to leave things as they are.
SamKnause
(13,108 posts)They have earned my disrespect and hate.
amuse bouche
(3,657 posts)RT Atlanta
(2,517 posts)n/t
OMGWTF
(3,972 posts)Karadeniz
(22,557 posts)Blasphemer
(3,261 posts)lark
(23,138 posts)I knew it! Police are not our friends, not even close.
hedda_foil
(16,375 posts)safeinOhio
(32,713 posts)If you are not a cop, you are a dirt bag until proven otherwise.
stopdiggin
(11,337 posts)Extremely cynical .. and ugly .. and always "Us vs Them"
There's no way to look at it other than .. paranoid and extremely dysfunctional.
(I didn't agree with every point made in the article .. but there's no doubt 99% of it was both informed, and on the square.)
stopdiggin
(11,337 posts)lunatica
(53,410 posts)by politicians just to get elected. Any politician who claims to be a law and order leader, like Trump does, is creating as much division and discontent and fear as they can, first by creating the division and then by capitalizing on the generated fear.
These have traditionally been called wedge issues which have been historical preferences used by the Republican Party. The Angry Black man dealing drugs, the Gay child molester pushing the gay agenda, the Illegals coming to take your jobs, and the Unions demanding wealth that they dont deserve from rich people who give them jobs. Its all tried and true and didnt just start with Trump. Trump just followed through by going full blown Fascist, while the rest of the Republicans just quietly go back to making themselves richer.
Oppaloopa
(867 posts)Management even helps the Union in order to prevent law suits that is what the lying and cover ups are all about.
LiberalLovinLug
(14,175 posts)This should be read by everyone.
SeattleVet
(5,478 posts)Just shared it via Facebook, with the caveat that if someone want to make comments about anything that it says, they have to have read the entire thing, since their questions/objections are most likely addressed in at least one section.
LittleGirl
(8,287 posts)But Im so glad I took the time to read it.
Thats enough internet for today.
plimsoll
(1,670 posts)They are payed professional witnesses.
They'll lie by omission. They'll mislead and misdirect.
They're testimony is given more weight, but in that capacity they are truly paid witnesses.
ProfessorGAC
(65,134 posts)That's quite the opinion piece.
Thanks for finding it.
Hekate
(90,769 posts)What we have -- what we've tolerated -- has to be on a completely different model.
What we have makes me ashamed to be an American.
qwlauren35
(6,148 posts)This is his solution.
So, folks, stop suggesting that the phrase "defund" is not accurate, poor branding, etc. It is exactly what it is supposed to be. Take away their funding. Take away their guns. Take away their rights that they hide behind. Take away their union, that they hide behind. Take away their qualified immunity that they hide behind.
Defund... or abolish.
If that word bothers you, then you didn't read the article.
misanthrope
(7,421 posts)It's about advertising and psychology more than policy.
I wish we could ask the former-cop author of this article what his opinion of the American electorate is and how they would react to something so blatantly stated. I think what's written between the lines in his piece is that Americans are so conditioned, so afraid and reflexive that they would recoil from it.
Status quo mindset, racism and other boogiemen are so ingrained in our culture we almost can't envision the scope of it. It is simple to exploit those factors, to get voters to drift to "law and order" candidates.
I think this issue is so explosive, so potentially dangerous to the left's electoral chances that I admit my paranoia when reading essays like this as if it were a Trojan horse. Not saying I don't recognize the necessity for reform but just that I am very scared for the future of this nation should the worst happen in November.
Locrian
(4,522 posts)dalton99a
(81,565 posts)WhiskeyGrinder
(22,386 posts)KentuckyWoman
(6,690 posts)Not only highlighting the problems but also giving up suggestions for reform.
malaise
(269,144 posts)JustGene
(421 posts)I saw most of this stuff on the "Tramp Trail' in CHI early 90's
I was aware much earlier.
I've known several cops who were decent-til you disagree
hadEnuf
(2,208 posts)to the last several decades of Conservatism. "Build more prisons", "3 strikes" and the multitude of other slogans, mindsets and attitudes that have help to build a militarized police force against the people of this country.
We need to vote these Right Wing "bastards" out. Every last one of them.
WhiskeyGrinder
(22,386 posts)Minneapolis has a Democratic mayor, a Democratic city council, is represented in the State House by Democrats and the State Senate by Democrats, is represented in the U.S. Senate by two Democrats and in the U.S. House by Democrats, and has a Democratic governor who has a Democratic majority in the state house.
The roots of oppressive policing lie in the structure of the police itself -- a force that originally chased people escaping slavery, protected property for the merchant class, and put down labor and immigrant uprisings that threatened the status quo. The entire system is broken. Dismantle it and build something new.
hadEnuf
(2,208 posts)but the abuses and hatred have been on steroids with Conservatism doing the pushing in the last few decades.
Stuart G
(38,439 posts)malthaussen
(17,215 posts)Excellent advice.
-- Mal
Kitchari
(2,167 posts)K&R, and thank you for posting