I wish more people would recognize this. Many cops seem to think that the purpose of “announcing” themselves before a raid is to earn the approval of judges. They don’t really want the target of their raid to hear them (lest he have the audacity to open the door before they can bash it down). They just want to be able to claim they “announced”.

IMHO, the world would be a much better and safer place for all honest people–including honest cops–if it were expected that that cops who bash down people’s doors without either making a REAL effort to announce themselves IN SUCH FASHION AS TO BE HEARD, or having a darned good reason not to make such effort, would be shot dead on the spot. Of course, policing might not be as much “fun”, but that sort of “fun” is something I’d rather the cops not have.

That’s a good point, Mike. A bit snarkier than I would have worded it, but basically true. The late Carl Klockars (Criminal Justice Professor, U of Delaware) discussed this problem.

Policing has been sold to people, including potential recruits like me, as something it is not. My generation has been exposed to COPS and other shows that make it look like the job is wall to wall car chases and foot pursuits. I should note that I stopped watching COPS and similar shows not long after I graduated from college (Crim. Justice major) and started working in healthcare security. I couldn’t take the bullshit anymore. If you are constantly getting involved in chases and fights, you are working in a war zone or you are fucking up and making things worse than they need to be. This is not why I became interested in policing. Sadly for me, however, this is the image that is being conveyed to the public.

Some potential recurits, however, react differently from me. They yearn for constant action. When they get on the job and realize that they have been lied to, they burn out, or they gravitate toward action jobs (SWAT, Narcotics, etc.). “Fuck this paperwork!” “I’m not a social worker!” These are a couple of the phrases you will hear from the “action cop.” They haven’t made the time to develop the discipline and self-control needed to be a REAL POlice, and they screw up. Here’s a good rule of thumb: If a police applicant tells you he’s in it for the action, he is going to be trouble! Encourage him to be a fitness trainer or a stunt man. Just keep him away from your local P.D..

As I said, it’s a very deferential standard.

If the kid decided himself to smoke a joint for his enjoyment, or was using one for some medical reason, I think I’d be okay chuckling at the effects.

Billy-Jay, what’s the “free market?” I think I read about that in an economics textbook one time a long time ago, but I’ve never seen it in real life. Have you?

They don’t want to hang a cop out to dry publicly, but I’m really hopeful that in most such cases the chief chews the guy out good once they’re behind closed doors (which isn’t perfect, but it’s better than nothing).

Michael kinda beat me to it above, but I am interested in a little thought experiment.

The dentist is licensed to adminster mind-altering drugs to children. It matters not whether that drug is legal or illegal from the child’s standpoint, his mind has been altered.

Why are we amused at the child coming out from the effects of legal anaesthesia, but even the most diehard classical liberals among us would cringe if the father had given his son a joint and recorded the effects? Or am I wrong — would any of us cringe?

Honestly, and you know how I feel about things, I cringed just performing the thought experiment. I could never give my kids a joint.

I have been successfully conditioned.

#23 | ChrisD | February 5th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
Wouldn’t it be cheaper and safer to create a police Winter X-Games, fly them all out to Breckenridge, lodge them for a week and let them work off their testosterone there? Then maybe they can come back and be good police w/o trying to ramp up their adrenaline levels at the citizens’ expense.

Yeah, but where would they find volunteers for the “Another Isolated Incident Event”?

And PETA might get upset about the “Shoot the Dog” event.

On the bright side, the big 3 automakers probably have lots of unsold vehicles that could be donated for the “Ram the Car” event.

One mile at 10 to 30 mph: Between 2 to 6 mins. Obviously the chase was going on too long and she felt she had to end it before things got dangerous. :)

/snark

all pretense of protecting the public is gone. they need a new uniform- maybe they should dress like the tax collectors in Hagar the Horrible.

SCREW the police.

I refuse to read anymore Michael Phelps trash. But maybe it will be good fro legalization. Maybe we can get it up over 51%!

Cop behavior…more of the same. It did not result in a death, but I feel it relates, very closely, to the other type of cop behavior we have all been discussing, on this blog. Did you see the ratings on the responses? The rating scales at the bottom were really revealing. Anyone who came on acting like the cops behavior was correct was voted down at a 90% rate! One commenter talked about a friend’s dad, (cop) being killed when standing on the side of the road, at a traffic stop. Apparently, that is what they teach in driver’s ed classes. Go to a safe place!

I know how that red light camera is getting so many! When driving in a city where there were stop lines, I noted, daily, that NO ONE was stopping behind the stop lines, as the law states. The rules of the road say, in Indiana, in an instance where you can’t see, you come to a complete stop first, then pull up. Simple, the people were breaking the law, that most of us have done all the time. The cameras just catch it. But, it does not improve safety, at all. It does add to the cities’ funds, though! People will learn! The bad guy, they thought they were going to catch, was us! I thought bringing in jury trials were great! They would have been a complete waste of time and money for the city! Most all would be “proven” guilty. But, they had extra revenue from these lights, did they not?!

But, realistically, where are you gonna get a box of mosquitoes from? My guess is a bio-science supply company that breeds them in clean conditions.