The police

[Alaskan_TA]

Now we are talking. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMOGaugKpzs

[polywideblock]

 

[Bob T]

Am I the only one that thought of this when seeing the thread title?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aENX1Sf3fgQ

Or in the Keith Richards autobiography when the Stones were in the dressing room after a show doing their lines and such when somebody said " Hey , the Police are here. So there was a mad rush flushing the stash and then in walked in Sting and Andy Copeland 

[Patronus]

I don't much mind em, but I'd like to know why they're so fat? It's not donuts.

[Ghoste]

Not many overweight ones in my county.  A fairly young and fit force so if you plan to run on foot or do hand to hand you'll need to bring game.

[cptjohn]

I've never received a ticket that I didn't deserve.

[Ghoste]

Me either and got out of a few that I shouldn't have.  Now when it comes to justice and my high school vice principal, that was quite a different matter. 

[familymopar]

I don't think there is any question that there are good cops and bad.  To generalize either way would be a mistake. Some bad people become cops, some good people become cops, some good people become cops and turn into bad cops.  But I can guarantee that there is a large population of people who believe that no cop would take the stand and lie or fabricate a report, etc.  And for them the word of a cop is gospel.  I can also guarantee you that the segment of the population who believe that are incorrect, and likely more often than any of us would like to believe.  Doesn't mean there aren't good ones, just means that the bad ones have made many of us quite jaded and skeptical.

As far as these stories, none of this is entrapment in the legal sense, it just feels that way.  Entrapment means, generally, that an officer coaxes you to do something you would not have done without their coaxing, not that they hid in a bush while you did it anyway or crossed a crosswalk just to see if you would stop properly.

[Ghoste]

You are 100% right.

[Patronus]

Not many overweight ones in my county.  A fairly young and fit force so if you plan to run on foot or do hand to hand you'll need to bring game.

I figure if you gotta bring game to a fight with the law you already lost. I have to agree with the Capt'n though, never one I didn't deserve. I didn't say they were bad, just big.

[Mopar Nut]

I grew up a long haired skateboarder, so I do know what your talking about.

Same here, I grew up long haired driving a muscle car in the seventies and was constantly being pulled over, for nothing.

[PrisonHack]

 Long haired skateboarder here too!  However I grew up and became a ..... COP   I did that job for several years before moving to my current job at a federal correctional facility. I have nothing but huge respect for the guys who do that job on the street everyday for crappy pay because I have been in their shoes. On the flip side though since I have walked in their shoes I will be the first to tell you I have seen plenty of guys who grew up getting a hard on watching the show COPS who have no business being one. I HATED working with those guys/girls who act like you did something personally wrong to them when they pull you over for a traffic violation.

 

[JB400]

http://news.yahoo.com/online-rants-rightwing-extremism-fuel-fears-for-us-cops-225012920.html

Looks like discontent with the police has hit a new low

[Ghoste]

Nice.  Even better is that the Yahoo article got a nice mention in there about a growing right wing movement and put it in the title without actually saying these guys were right wingers or attributing it in any factual way to it being the result of a political belief that normally supports increased policing if anything.
Thats how politics get out of hand.

[Cooter]

It's all about money. Been pulled over ever since I started driving. Most were deserved. Some I fought.
one thing I've found is you have rights. You may or may not exercise them at the time your pulled over.
if you chose to exercise your rights, be prepared to have your bike/vehicle relentlessly searched and detained for however long it takes for the offended cop to feel vindicated.

Sometimes, you just gotta follow a MF'r home, find out where he/she lives, and make a little karma happen.

[Troy]

So, while it is certainly illegal to ignore a pedestrian in a marked crosswalk...
from a PR perspective they could have handled it in a way that would have been educational AND positive instead of just another black eye for the PD and cries of abuse of power. They could have easily given warnings out or had the guy carrying a sign to make people aware of the problem. I read another article that mentioned an elderly woman being killed in that intersection a few weeks earlier. In this case it seems like a knee jerk reaction as well as a chance to boost the general fund for the city. Why try to solve the problem when you could just profit from it instead?

As for entrapment...
if a guy stands there waiting for a car to come up before stepping out into the street that's pretty shady if you ask me. It may be withing the law and all that but it's teetering on the edge in my opinion. At work we call it "setting someone up to fail" - and it's not likely to win you any respect.

Troy

[JB400]

For such a heavily commuted crosswalk, the city should put up a few signs and blinking lights.  For the college in my area that crosses a state highway, that is what was done.  College students and staff and shut down traffic anytime to cross.

[Road Dog]

A place up in Virginia has a trap where the cop had a portable speed limit sign he got out of his trunk.  He must have got that off of Dukes of Hazzard.

[Mopar Nut]

For such a heavily commuted crosswalk, the city should put up a few signs and blinking lights.  For the college in my area that crosses a state highway, that is what was done.  College students and staff and shut down traffic anytime to cross.

Here if it's heavily traveled, they will construct a walk bridge. A year ago a kid got hit in a school cross walk, not during schools hours though. The off duty cop that hit him said the kid jump in front of him, the cop was found texting. The kid was 10.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2680661/Trooper-filmed-beating-woman-head-California-highway.html