TheAgitator.com
Illinois Police Official Gets Cherry New Wheels
Wednesday, May 27th, 2009In January 2007, state police in Illinois seized a shiny new, souped-up Dodge Charger after arresting the car’s owner on drunk driving charges. The state apparently passed a law in 2006 that allows police to take and keep the cars of repeat drunk driving offenders.
But this car didn’t get auctioned off, as often happens in seizure cases. Instead, it was given to Ronald Cooley, head of the State Police Merit Board. The Merit Board oversees state police hirings, firings, discipline, and promotions.
According to the A.P., Cooley “drives the Charger between his office and Petersburg home, for local work assignments and for a handful of out-of-town state business trips.” The A.P. says other police officials may be driving seized luxury vehicles, too.
The transfer also raises questions about how the department uses nearly two dozen other vehicles the police have seized, including a 2003 Cadillac Escalade, a 2004 Audi Quattro and a 2005 GMC Sierra. The agency refused to tell the AP who drives those vehicles, citing the possibility that it would jeopardize officer safety.
Compton said there’s nothing improper about handing over the sports car to the director of an agency that administers state troopers’ hiring, firing and discipline. Cooley agreed.
“It’s not a situation where I’d do anything for them or they for me,” Cooley said. “It helped our budget and they had something they couldn’t use.”
“It’s not a situation where I’d do anything for them or they for me,” Cooley said. “It helped our budget and they had something they couldn’t use.”
My bullshit meter just exploded.
“…they had something they couldn’t use”
Then WHY confiscate it? Just because? Farking assholes.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the cops are riding those DUI seized vehicles shitfaced at night.
There are all sorts of lil nuggets in this article, like:
“We didn’t want a vehicle capable of those speeds on patrol, nor did we want a vehicle like that – a flashy, muscle car – in a covert investigative capacity,” Compton said. “We’ve learned that those don’t stay covert for very long.”
but follow that up with:
But the agency has used unmarked hotrods in the past – Chevrolet Camaros and Ford Mustangs – for speeding enforcement.
but no love for the Charger? no wonder Chrysler is going under.
Then there’s:
Stephanie Brinley, a product analyst for AutoPacific, which reviews the industry, said police agencies often don’t want top-performing vehicles. They offer superfluous speed, a less-comfortable ride for a long patrol shift because of a stiffer suspension system, and suck more gas.
Superfluous speed? Yeah because if there’s one truth in life, it’s LEOs always, always obey all posted speed limits.
Speaking of LEOs, it seems the officers involved in the Oakland train station (BART) execution of Oscar Grant are all giving testimony that contradicts all the video shot of the incident.
The usual stuff is mentioned: chaotic scene, Grant was beligerant and fighting with officers, people running around. Standard LEO cover up 101.
Mehserle is sticking to “I meant to grab my stun gun”. And what? Stun Grant who was already lying on the ground handcuffed?
Fuck the police.
A hot rod, a badge and a gun: surely this will help in picking-up those high school girls that wouldn’t even have given me a second look before.
I wonder what constitutes a “repeat offender”?
Oh, because you and they are the few human beings on the planet that aren’t susceptible to greed, power, and lust for control?
Fuck you.
This shows why you should always keep the Certificate of Origin. If the cops steal your car, you can steal it back.
make perfect sense to me,
1) people see a state cop driving a car like that around and the public might not sympathize with the poor police officers when they complain how tough it is to make ends meet on $150,000/year.
2) Unless all the state cops had chargers local police called to respond to bar fight might not realize they are dealing with fellow police officers and actually stop instead of driving by no matter how many times 911 is called.
3) would you want a drunk to be driving a car with that power? Keeping a car like this out of the hands of cops is much easier and less controversial than actually arresting an officer for driving drunk.
And here I was thinking all that stuff they stole from people ended up helping out pretty white female orphaned abuse victims. I’m shocked. Shocked! That when police break out the “1001 excuses to steal stuff” booklet, they’re doing it for personal gain.
Oh right. Isolated incident. Thank god I can rest easy tonight knowing pretty white female orphaned abuse victims will continue to receive a steady supply of stuff stolen from the Bad Guys™.
Didn’t Soviet leader Nikita Krushchev have over 60 vehicles that were “gifts” mostly from foreigners seeking his favor.
Superior defense measure against police-initiated Asset Forfeiture:
A lien on the car from a lender. That MAKES the police sell the vehicle, or just drop the matter.
“They offer superfluous speed…”
That is a step above ridiculous speed, but below ludicrous speed.
So… basically… they fined that guy with ‘repeat DUIs’ 24,500 dollars on top of whatever other punishment was meted out, not because the crime warranted it, but because they could.
How is that constitutional?
Oh wait, that’s right. The group that is our last line of defense of the constitution has Law Enforcement’s collective cock in it’s mouth.
I apologize for my use of crude language… but there was no gentle way to put that.
Mike Leatherwood “That is a step above ridiculous speed, but below ludicrous speed.”
lol, brilliant!
“It helped our budget and they had something they couldn’t use.”
By “our,” he means his and his wife’s budget, right? Because, if he means his department, I don’t see why he should have a “company” car available to him as a member of some government board.
Of course, I don’t understand why lots of things happen where these jerks are concerned, so I guess my question is moot.
And politicians don’t do stuff in exchange for campaign contributions, either.
A cop saying “wow, nice ride” the second time he sees it.
Isolated incident.
I wouldn’t mind isolated incidents if they were, well, isolated. These “isolated incidents” are starting to look as isolated as individual Red Army soldiers marching past Lenin’s Tomb on May Day.
This shit makes me sick, and the cops themselves make me sicker. Self-righteous, smug, law breaking bastards.
Mike Leatherwood wins the thread!
All the outrage, man, welcome to Illinois ladies and gents. Having lived here my entire life I can honestly say that this is small potatoes compared to the absolute horror that is Illinois politics. I mean, they just stole a car from a drunk driver and gave it to a highly connected official. How bad is that, really, in a state where no one was shocked when it came out a police chief was extorting local businesses (including a church) into paying his private security firm four times the going rate, using on-duty cops to staff his firm, and threatening to withhold police protection if they didn’t buy on his terms (even if they didn’t need private security in the first place). Hell, campaign contributions are legally income in the goddamn state.
On the subject of cops behaving badly:
http://www.ktul.com/news/stories/0509/626531.html
It takes a special kind of anal orifice to arrest a paramedic transporting a sick patient to the hospital.
My first thought was… “Oh, this is the Onion. This is a really bad joke. There is no way this could be for real.”
But No! That’s how it actually went down! Shit for brains cops had trouble passing a FUCKING AMBULANCE on their way to whatever dumb ass call they were on… then, when they finished with that… they CHASED DOWN THE AMBULANCE and stopped it! With a patient inside!
Please, PLEASE someone link the Onion article that says they staged the whole thing… before my brain explodes.
We seemed to have missed this one in Seattle:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009248196_webcopchase21m.html
Seems a deputy chases a guy who is suspected of a crime (but later found to be uninvolved) and ends up slamming him into a brick wall head first. The guy’s in a coma. Video of the incident here:
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=70a_1243358882
A “tragic accident”.
Because it’s all about the free swag. I mean safety.
‘It takes a special kind of anal orifice to arrest a paramedic transporting a sick patient to the hospital.’
the cop saw an opportunity to pick up something cooler than a charger! If a cop’s shot- the medics are his best friend. if the cop is trying to ditch someone they’ve arrested, the medics are his best friend. on unstable scenes, the cops can be a medics best friend. But, it’s amazing how they’re usually not buddies. Cops and medics are chasing the same tax dollars, you know…
‘The agency refused to tell the AP who drives those vehicles, citing the possibility that it would jeopardize officer safety.’
they keep scamming cars, they should be worried about their safety. they’re adding $300 to $500 in monthly expenses to someone’s monthly budget… I’d be looking to jeopardize someone’s safety!
They can always use it. They could sell it at public auction and use the proceeds for public purposes. They could hand it over to traffic enforcement to replace a battered old cruiser. They just didn’t want to use it for a public purpose because it is such a sweet ride, that it’d be a shame to limit it to legitimate public uses.
You forget that this is the same profession that believes it knows more about the human body than doctors when it comes to pain.
Because the courts are on the side of government, forfeiture laws are allows to exist. Forfeiture laws violate the fifth amendment’s protection against taking private property without just compensation. This protection appleis even in the case of where one “breaks” the law. The eighth amendment protects us from theft by fine BUT
in 1833 the supreme court using the crystal balls of Judge John Marshall decided, against the teachings of the day, that the Bill of Rights does not bind the states. Today we live with a made up doctrine of incorporation but during incorporation, the courts leave holes in our rights so the government can do what it wants, when it wants.
Government is the root of all evil.
Tiochfaidh ar la!
Agent Crashes Seized Ferrari
http://www.wkyt.com/home/headlines/46237857.html
…awesome.
Does anybody doubt where Obama got his ideas to steal the white house?