iamabadgecarrier

To be honest, legalize it already. Not so I can do it, because that will never happen, but because why not? As long as what you are doing doesn't affect me or mine, I don't care. Now I catch you driving high and putting others at risk...you are fair game.

I very much enjoy my job. I think the best moments are when I can put a smile on peoples faces. Which is rare because most of the time people don't call the cops just to say hi. I'm very community oriented and if I see kids playing catch, basketball, soccer heck even tennis, I will get out and play with them. There isn't anything else like it in this world to see a child smile and get so happy because they got to play catch with a cop. I have had a couple kids who started out juvenile delinquents come back to me and thank me for listening to them and playing hoops with them and tell me those moments helped change their path. Shoot, a neighboring department hired one of them. This kid was going down a bad path. I helped mentor him and he did a complete bout face. Love that type of stuff.

First I don't care if it is a citizen or not. Abuse is abuse regardless who it is. If it was verbal abuse, I would try to calm the guy down in a way the citizen couldn't tell (some criminals are like children they know how to try and divide to conquer like with parents).

If it was physical in nature I would stop it, again in the most discreet of ways. I'm not going to be all hero here and say it's just because of the perp, because it isn't. I would try and stop it for multiple reasons - 1. Myself. I'm not about to risk my career and family for a cop with an anger problem. Not going to happen. I have a house, wife and kids.

1. Everything and I mean everything and everyone are video taping us. So my choice would be to stand by and not do anything which isn't good on camera. Help beat the crap out of the guy while on camera (not an option for me on or off camera)

2. The less the cop is seen verbally or physically abusing the better for him. I'm not condoning the actions by any means. But until you are in our shoes you have no idea the stress of this job. That still isn't a reason to go off the handle. There is never an excuse for Abuse of power. But just like you, we can snap. Happens all of the time. And that doesn't make the person a bad person, just a person who needs mental evaluation and really needs to find a new line of work.

With all that being said, I have seen many criminals get what would look like to an outsider an "ass beating" when in reality those officers are trying to fight off the criminal as he is trying to take the gun out of an officers holster, or an officer trying to get guys arms while the guy is latched onto the officer's arm with his mouth, while the assisting officers strike the perp etc to try and get off. Not every video you see is as it seems. The media cuts a lot of things out, or the person recording records it in a way to show the bad sides. With that being said, yes there are also unjustifiable beatings all over this country. How to make that stop? I have not an answer.

And if you don't believe my last statement above there was just a case where the criminal had a friend record the encounter. Criminal and said friend altered video later and released it to the media with a would story. The department waited add released the officer's dash cam and body cam footage. I will see if I can find the story.

Tl;dr I wouldn't just stand by. I'm not about losing my stuff over a disgruntled cop nor am I going to sit back and watch someone get their ass beat. I would arrest a citizen doing it do a citizen. As I wouldn't arrest a fellow officer, I would make sure the shift commander was aware and let them handle it from there.

I think it is a fan freaking tastic idea! It is being proposed by our federal government, so much that if it takes affect, and a department says they aren't doing it, federal money will be pulled.

Let me explain why it is a good idea:

Simply put, it protects myself against false claims and citizens against rogue cops. Our department wears them. I have seen some dick head cops (yes I work with dick heads) change their entire way they do things to which it has made them better cops. I myself have been the victim of false claims from citizens. One female in particular tried to claim I reached in and touched her breast on a traffic stop. My body cam showed I did no such thing. Had I not had that, it could have been bad. Those are accusations that stick with you.

I have also seen citizens complain on an officer for his treatment. Officer thought his body cam wasn't on. He denied accusations. Body cam was on. He was fired.

So all for them. Give me five of them. One in front, one on my head, one on my back and two in my sides!

I read that report. I would say a couple different things on this. Was it a revenue scheme? Maybe. And probably. Were the cops going out and writing false citations? I don't think so. This is what should be looked at: the white cop that goes out and writes a tail light citation to a black person....has he/she stopped a white person for the same offense and if so how many warnings vs citations did they give the white race? Also, it isn't unlikely to pull over someone for a simple traffic infraction and fall into 5 citations being written. No insurance, no valid dl, unrestrained child etc.

Do I think cities use it as a revenue system? Yes I do. Should that be fixed? Yes. If my department ever tried to force me to write a certain amount of tickets, I would quit. I'm not your revenue collector. I get paid by the city, but I work for the citizens.

With all of that being said, who do you blame for those citations? The cop who wrote them or the person who failed to get their dl back, go get insurance so when they accidentally hit you, your insurance isn't paying, etc etc.