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WcoastO

(55 posts) Tue Jul 16, 2013, 06:11 PM Jul 2013

A Cop's take on the Verdict

The verdict was ridiculous but not surprising. The only way I would describe the way that I feel is nausea. I am just sick that this guy got off and his lawyers are going to shamelessly be doing victory laps on TV for the next several weeks. I also feel so terrible for Trayvon Martin's parents who had to live through that clown show just to see this punk Zimmerman walk. But right now my burning issue is with all of the police officers that defended this idiot from the beginning. Because as a cop of 11 years myself this burns me especially deeply.

First off I'll just say that for me to write this post I have to be brutally honest about a side of the job that most non-police don't even know that much about, the police-adjacent characters that play a pretty significant role in the career of the average police officer. NO not fireman and EMS. I'm talking about the other people that if you work the street you get to know by name because you see them that often. They are the medical examiners, the tow truck drivers, and yes at times the Security Types. Security types come in basically two flavors; bouncer types and security guard types.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/07/14/1223459/-A-Cop-s-take-on-the-Verdict

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A Cop's take on the Verdict (Original Post) WcoastO Jul 2013 OP

I liked this paragraph best: Duer 157099 Jul 2013 #1

THIS!! tblue37 Jul 2013 #2

Duer 157099

(17,742 posts)

1. I liked this paragraph best:

Reply to WcoastO (Original post)

Tue Jul 16, 2013, 06:29 PM

Jul 2013

That is what is so infuriating and confusing about this case. Good police officers that I know personally very well, that I have policed with, bled with, have taken sides on this case that are completely contrary to everything they have ever demonstrated in their entire professional lives. People that would be pulling their eye teeth out with pliers if they had to deal with a guy like Zimmerman on their beat are cheering his acquittal. People that supervise officers. If this scenario had played out with one of their subordinates shooting an unarmed teen after pursuing them under these circumstances they would have recommended termination at the least and gone all in on an Internal Affairs Investigation are saying the prosecution never had a case. I am sure that my old department would not have hesitated a moment to prosecute any off duty police officer if they had done the same thing that George Zimmerman did. But for some reason this case triggered some sort of collective fugue state that has clouded every bodies mind. At some point this became a basketball game for them, our team versus their team. Now we've got defense lawyers doing victory laps, cops cheering prosecutors losing a case and 60% of the country feeling like a guilty man is going free.

tblue37

(65,490 posts)

2. THIS!!

Reply to Duer 157099 (Reply #1)

Tue Jul 16, 2013, 08:44 PM

Jul 2013

"At some point this became a basketball game for them, our team versus their team."

This is why our public discourse and our politics are so totally screwed up in this country--because everyone sees every issue in terms of "their team" rather than in terms of logic or reality!

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