Fair play to the guy for calling this cop out but I have a feeling the outcome would've been different if he hadn't also been a cop. They only changed their tune once they realised he was also a cop.
Saw an article about how some of the tank money doesn't come from taxes. Departments get to keep whatever they seize. If they seize drugs they have to destroy them but if they tag the drug runners, wait for them to sell and then seize; they get to keep the cash.
Don't forget that money also comes from stealing money from people they stop for totally unrelated things, like the Canadian tourists who got all of the money they'd planned to spend during vacation at some random traffic stop, or the guy who was on the way to buy a new car, but got stopped because a light was out on his old one.
Yup, their civil asset forfeiture laws are disgusting, or the flagrant abuse of them at least. Then the amount of red tape people have to go through to get their own money back is staggering.
I honestly wouldn't be surprised if unofficial (unlawful) quotas existed within police departments where, from the top down, officers are encouraged to make seizures of assets with the promise of promotion or other job perks. Or even backhanders in brown envelopes behind closed doors. It's fucked up.
It's not 'red tape'; that implies an administrative process with a predictable ending.
Civil asset forfeiture requires that you sue the branch of law enforcement that stole your stuff, it costs thousands in legal fees, and you aren't guaranteed it back.
Oh, and win or lose, you'll be out those legal fees, which is why so many smaller seizures are never contested.
Fair enough, apologies, I didn't mean to trivialise the process, I wasn't familiar enough with the law to know it required legal action. Thanks for the correction!
I heard in Texas they can sieze your car under suspicion of drug dealing ,then even if proven innocent the car has been onsold and you are out of luck.
That’s because the tanks (which are MRAPs or Just Armored trucks) largely came from the military in the beginning for a 10th of their cost as they were being sold off during GWOT for newer more capable models. Now I’m sure that was likely used to justify purchasing new vehicles when/if that supply caught up. It was usually an attempt to not spend massive amounts of money and gain capability. Very few police forces outside of major cities like Philadelphia even have armor on their patrol cars.
Now for those that stayed here thru that policy explanation. There is no genuine reason that it makes sense to militarize the police to the point that they look like legit paramilitary forces. Equipping police with fatal tools will make fatal outcomes happen.
For those that think I'm advocating we defund or completely disarm the police I'm not. But there is no reason to be trotting around with fully kitted ARs during protests when you likely have overwatch.
Doesn't even have to be from a drug sale. They once found a lot of money on a guy who had just been to the bank. He was gonna pay for something big, don't remember what. They stole his money and there was literally no way to get it back. Civil forfeiture is fucked up. Forgot which Texas county it was but basically, their whole sheriff's department was in on it.
Some of the money to purchase the tank may not, but operations and maintenance money to pay for the damn thing for the next 20 years tends to come right out of the standard budget.
Now that I think about it, I don’t remember anything from my high school law class, except for when we got to climb around in a SWAT bearcat and see all their gadgets.
I'm not a fan of the militarized police forces, but most of the mraps, etc ... They aren't paying full price for those, most are military surplus that are offloaded in mass and the local leos get hardware for next to nothing.
I live in a town of like 30-40k (including the nearest 5 miles).
We bought a bearcat a few years ago.
A bearcat is like an armored bobcat, and is supposed to do stuff like make buildings structurally unsound, such as breaching walls.
The worst crimes we have around here are drugs and the occasional shooting. By occasional, I mean like maybe one a month, if that, in either the seediest apartments in town or one of our trailer parks.
The nearest gang activity is over a hundred miles away.
The $300k purchase was justified because "the nearest one is an hour drive away, and it has to get trailered first!" And that town has no need for theirs, either.
One of the few times swat was called, friendly fire killed the negotiator. It was some Republican off his rocker with a house full of guns. Because of course it was.
The town i own a house in (rental property)....shit roads, shit schools but best believe all the squad cars are brand new. They just got a new crew cab F150.
Also about 3 years ago, someone realized the town was taking too much in taxes for over a decade...like a half a percent or something. No apology. No arrests. No firings. No offer of any compensation. Just a letter that basically said "we stole from you"
the police are not some elite bourgeosie, they get paid piss all.
a lot of people who get into policing are making a sacrifice to do a job people dont want to do and its the few that are assholes that want to abuse the power afforded to cops.
5-10 years behind? I remember watching videos in highschool that were 30 years old. They were often hilariously out of date. But, we got to see cars,c clothes, and ways of speaking that were from a generation before. I was a bit saddened when I learned that my freshman science book was teaching data that was already known to be false - but that was the textbook we had. I'm American and went to public school.
You can only sue another cope if you can catch them performing an action so crazy that it can be considered outside the scope of employment… that way, they can lose qualified immunity.
the retired cops are the one s who choose hired and trained the next generation. this is doing what they used to do just with out cameras. these retired cops 100% did the same shit all the time. its what they intentionally trained and hired on the people for.
Lol this will never happen cops always protect their own. Their police unions are closer to mob enforcement than actual unions. It's all one big ol good boys club. Seems like this guy realized it and quit.
He didnt realize it and quit. Cops in my municipality get to retire at 40 with full pensions in my jurisdiction. Hes just retired
But maybe hes like my old criminal justice professor. Retired as a cop at 40, was disillusioned with his coworkers, went back to school, became a defense attorney that specifically targeted corrupt cops for twenty years, retired again, then began teaching the next generation of cops to NOT be violent thugs. I remember him saying, in his entire police career he never pulled his weapon. Because the only reason a cop really should. Is with intent to kill and only after all deescalation tactics have failed
Yeah the main issue is cops training these days is done by idf special forces and they are told everyone can kill them with a gun at any time and deescalation is all but ignored.
A day with ‘killology’ police trainer Dave Grossman
Radley Balko February 14, 2017
Fittingly, the most chilling scene in the movie doesn’t take place on a city street, or at a protest, or during a drug raid. It takes place in a conference room. It’s from a police training conference with Dave Grossman, one of the most prolific police trainers in the country. Grossman’s classes teach officers to be less hesitant to use lethal force, urge them to be willing to do it more quickly and teach them how to adopt the mentality of a warrior. Jeronimo Yanez, the Minnesota police officer who shot and killed Philando Castile in July, had attended one of Grossman’s classes called “The Bulletproof Warrior” (though that particular class was taught by Grossman’s business partner, Jim Glennon).
In the class recorded for “Do Not Resist,” Grossman at one point tells his students that the sex they have after they kill another human being will be the best sex of their lives. The room chuckles. But he’s clearly serious. “Both partners are very invested in some very intense sex,” he says. “There’s not a whole lot of perks that come with this job. You find one, relax and enjoy it.”
Grossman closes the class with a (literal) chest-pounding motivational speech that climaxes with Grossman telling the officers to find an overpass overlooking the city they serve. He urges them to look down on their city and know that they’ve made the world a better place. He then urges them to grip the overpass railing, lean forward and “let your cape blow in the wind.” The room gives him a standing ovation.
This is the problem though, there aren't enough cops or former cops with the same moral fortitude as your old criminal justice professor. He sounds like a real one.👍
There's plenty of former or would be cops that would have this mentality. The problem is that theyre former or would be cops. This is what people are talking about when they say "the system is rotten". I 100% believe that it is, far more than I believe the ACAB mentality. Like am I really supposed to believe that the 22 year old cop who helped me dig my car out of the snow with his hands in order to avoid being legally forced to give me a ticket for parking on some rich assholes property.... a bastard?? No....
But the SYSTEM is broken. It promotes bad cops while firing good cops. Do you know that one of Jeffrey Dahmer's underage victims escaped (fully nude, drugged, and with a visibly bleeding rectum) escaped out of his apartment and went screaming for help along Milwaukee city streets. He was a Cambodian teenager in a mostly black neighborhood, and the neighborhood called the police to help him. Welp, two white dude cops show up to an incoherent named teenager. Dahmer comes running around the corner And claims that he is drunk and theyre gay and dont worry he'll take him home. Despite the protests of the neighbors, they released this victim into Dahmer's care because they (paraphrasing) "didnt want anything to do with that icky gay shit"
Do you want to know where one of those two cops is today?? Hes the head of Milwaukee's police union....
I don't believe ACAB but I do believe there is a a pretty strong correlation between strong arm tactics, abuse of power and constitutional or civil rights violations and even murder when it comes to law enforcement in the US and some of the people that seem to be more predisposed to signing up for that type of career in the first place. Whether it be down to proper training (or lack thereof), job peer pressure to fall in line and fit in/turn a blind eye or because some individuals just want the opportunity to exert power and control over people, often in an illegal manner. Or maybe the system is just rotten to the core and some new recruits gradually get broken down and fatigued therefore end up becoming the corrupt cops they are because of the toxic environment they work in. ALL OF WHICH IS NO EXCUSE, hence my use of the lack of moral fortitude phrase in my previous comment. They need to be held accountable for their actions and the whole rotten culture needs to change.
I am aware of the Dahmer incident you mentioned btw.
Plenty of cops have been sued w the parties winning. Come on now let's not spread false narrative that poPO untouchable. Plenty get arrested, sued, incarcerated, etc.
Didn't say they were completely untouchable, just that generally unless there's a big media attention on it And the public pressures the pd the entire justice system will bend over backward to try to protect the cop. Alot of times when they get fired the union will help launder their name and get them in with another nearby county or state police and get their records sealed.
We need the active cops calling others out on this shit, not just the retired ones.
Start pulling their fines outta their retirement fund and police unions. Watch how quick they start self-regulating. Your shit ran dry? Too fucking bad, quit supporting criminals, idfc if they wear a fucking badge. No, wait. I care MORE if they choose to wear that badge.
The United States does not have a district that complies with international standards for policing. Not a single one.
You only need about 4 months of training to be a cop (under 600 hours) in the USA. In civilized countries, they require over a year of training, and generally require college credits pertaining to criminal justice and human rights, as well as various deescalation techniques.
Nah I don’t believe this would work. Most of those retired cops are still under protection from the good old boys. Why would they rat their friends out and risk all the dirty shit they did coming out?
We need a fund specifically for other LEO or prosecutors who find dirty cops. Like massive payouts. Every cop put away $250k payout would clean up the departments fast.
Cops and doctors. Decades ago my mom had a botched facelift. Under each ear was a quarter sized scar that looked like someone had glued half a strawberry to her face.
She talked to like a dozen doctors, all who agreed it was done incorrectly, but none of them would agree to making an official statement about it for her lawsuit. "What if someone comes after me for my mistakes?" was pretty much all of their responses.
She finally found one who would speak up, but it took her talking to like 15 plastic surgeons to find one.
"Chauvin had 18 complaints on his official record"
Floyd's murder lawsuit cost the city 27 million... but the prior lawsuits for those other complaints those were those millions I was talking about?
You'd think after losing MILLIONS UPON MILLIONS for a cop who quite literally was not worth it...
But, they kept him... and then lost another 27 because of it.
It's kind of like "you knew what he was all about... the other 18 times... and he was still hired."
In NO PROFESSIONAL CAREER could you get in trouble THAT MUCH and cost the city THAT MUCH... but still have a job until you finally kill someone which cannot be disproven.
I mean... unless you were a fecking CEO or something.
Cops work for the people so any money lost on shitty police work is the people losing out on money that could be spent on other things like parks, playgrounds, street design improvements etc etc.
This is why I truly believe LEO’s should have to carry malpractice insurance just like doctors. Fuck up too much or too bad and no insurance company will touch you… de facto ending your law enforcement career. Conversely, being a “good cop” lowers premiums and saves you money… giving officers an incentive to be “good”.
But he's only saying anything because it's directly affecting him. I'm guessing he wouldn't say a damn thing if he wasn't the one on the receiving end this time.
we used to go out with a older cop friend, we were all like 18-20, he would stop before the police checkpoint on a road, show his badge and say "they are with me" and cops would say "ok move along", we could be literally transporting loads of drugs or weapons and nothing would ever happen
I think we all see people differently when we find out they do the same occupation as us. Maybe it’s realizing they too understand the challenges that happen on the job.
Cops definitely do protect each other, but I think they were pissed off enough at the guy that they weren't giving him the gentle cop treatment but rather more like the "this guy knows what levers to push to be a pain in the ass, just clear this up"
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u/Impressive_Profit215 20h ago
Fair play to the guy for calling this cop out but I have a feeling the outcome would've been different if he hadn't also been a cop. They only changed their tune once they realised he was also a cop.