I generally agree with you, but in this case everything’s screwed up. I say, ‘Sorry, part of the problem. Grow a set of balls and say “He was breaking a bullshit law, and I refuse to write a ticket for it.”

This is what happens in clashes between bullshit bureaucrats- a pissing match between paper pushers. The cop’s still new (and delusional) enough to think the community benefits from this shit. The mayor’s entrenched (and delusional) enough to think he’s too important to be held to the same standards as the serfs.

Fuck ‘em both- I hope the worthless twerps get locked in a cage match with someone who really knows how to kick their asses.

These days, the police force is little more than a WELFARE AND JOBS PROGRAM for otherwise unemployable thugs.

By every measure though, cop employment = cop welfare.

i hope you don’t mind me using cop welfare. it goes good with military welfare, bank welfare, sport teams welfare…… and on and on……….

Not surprising.

*Reads article contents*
Son of a…
*headdesk*
*headdesk*
*headdesk*
*Johnnie Walker*
*headdesk*

You know, I can’t bring myself to feel sympathy for the officer. Its not like the Mayor showed up at the station and said; don’t ticket my family members. The cop may or may not have been 100% professional with the mayors kid, we’ll never know, but the fact of the matter is he disobeyed a direct order. Nepotism aside if the Mayor of your town wants to get hip deep in your butt, its probably worth your job to oblige him and vote for someone else next time…

So he lacked probable cause to pull him over. He should be fired. Too bad it has to happen to the Mayor’s family for anyone to care (just like the guy with the dogs in PG County Maryland).

Secondly the mayor should have been arrested for obstruction. Some states also have laws against retaliation which may apply. There are probably some other laws that were violated, possibly extortion, and the chief of police may also be in violation depending on their conversation. Plus you have a host of civil law violations. As others have mentioned, if the officer pushes this he not only gets his job back but gets a pay day from the city.

Generaly I hold politicians and lawyers (often the same thing) in lower regard than officers. Even with all the stories here.

A cop can be dishonest and corrupt, but you have to hold political office to display total moral bankruptcy.

The mayor’s son should be getting a good lawyer to sue the cop for violating his 4th Amendment rights by stopping him without suspicion of a crime in the first place.

Evidence of the ol’ glazzies! Nothing up our sleeves, no magic little Alex! A job for two who are now of job age!

By every measure though, cop employment = cop welfare.

- It’s completely funded by the taxpayers
- It’s a government jobs program that creates an artificial surplus of positions, functions, and equipment (i.e. military tanks for a small town PD) well in excess of that which is actually demanded or needed by the public
- As a government jobs program, it tends to “make work” by redirecting resources into inefficient and unnecessary tasks and positions (i.e. SWAT teams for everything from the fisheries bureau on up)
- It’s nearly impossible to boot somebody off the cop dole for doing anything wrong no matter how horrible it may be, and up to and including defrauding the system
- Those who defraud the system are actually rewarded with MORE cop welfare in the form of “paid administrative leave” for doing absolutely nothing for months on end
- Those few who do not defraud the system are penalized (such as the Utah cop in this story)
- It pays out hundreds of thousands of dollars over a lifetime to cops who “retired” from the force with full benefits at the age of 45, and then never work another honest day for the next 30-40 years of their lives.

#13 Kevin

I’m going to throw this out: I don’t think there would be anything wrong with suspending a LEO with pay while an investigation is conducted if we had a good sense that justice would be done. If we are to presume innocence, then the officer should not be punished until wrongdoing is confirmed.

I think he should have a presumption of innocence in terms of criminal prosecution just like an ordinary citizen, but I think the city should have the option to fire him on the spot of they are convinced he poses a hazard to the people he is tasked with protecting. Obviously, a less harsh response (suspension with or without pay) would certainly be permitted if the case called for it. And, they shouldn’t have to ask permission of the union before they do it. Unions are not responsible for law enforcement or the safety of the public. They are simply organizations formed for the sole purpose of extorting high wages and benefits out of employers.