Bad Cops

lady cop · Post by **lady cop** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 7:21 pm

i am very upset. one of ours was just arrested. this has happened a few times and breaks our collective hearts. these people are/were our trusted brothers and sisters...we share a strong bond many professions do not. so when someone you know has done something incomprehensible, it is a terrible shock and a hurt. these comrades are those that we trusted with our very lives. so when a cop goes bad it is a sickening feeling as though it were family. :-1 the ultimate betrayal. i remember when i was a rookie, something involving a prisoner with a lot of cash came up, we had to count and sign for it..when i was asked to sign for it i was reluctant and was told "hey, i trust you, you wear a badge". made a big impression on me. i knew i could be trusted, but at that moment felt the trust implicit in that badge. i am so hurt and angry at this cop, and having to see his booking photo on the front page. he makes us all look bad, gives the cop-haters fodder, erodes the public trust.

David813 · Post by **David813** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 7:35 pm

lady cop wrote: i am very upset. one of ours was just arrested. this has happened a few times and breaks our collective hearts. these people are/were our trusted brothers and sisters...we share a strong bond many professions do not. so when someone you know has done something incomprehensible, it is a terrible shock and a hurt. these comrades are those that we trusted with our very lives. so when a cop goes bad it is a sickening feeling as though it were family. :-1 the ultimate betrayal. i remember when i was a rookie, something involving a prisoner with a lot of cash came up, we had to count and sign for it..when i was asked to sign for it i was reluctant and was told "hey, i trust you, you wear a badge". made a big impression on me. i knew i could be trusted, but at that moment felt the trust implicit in that badge. i am so hurt and angry at this cop, and having to see his booking photo on the front page. he makes us all look bad, gives the cop-haters fodder, erodes the public trust.It happens alot more than it should as cops operate with little oversight. IA is run by and staffed by cops! Here in KC a Missouri side suburban PD chased a speeder at speeds of 80mph in 35mph zones into a Kansas suburb with the copcar smashing broadside into a car driven by a 22 year old college girl. She died at the scene. County prosecutors on the KS. side pressed charges against the pursuing MO officers as the victim's family did the same. In an act of brazen intimidation MO cops packed the courtroom in an effort to "support" the cops on trial. And to intimidate the prosecutor, judge and the victim's family. Of course they were exonerated. This isn't the same as the above crime but the mafia-like "Posse" cops maintain is a dangerous thing. Now LC I KNOW you are a good and ethical police officer and I have the utmost respect for you. I am curious though about policy regarding high speed chases across state lines in residential areas. This suspect simply fled police after being signaled to pull over after a traffic violation. He/she was never found.

CARLA · Post by **CARLA** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 7:38 pm

Sorry one of your own has gone bad LC. Sad when that happens, your right it make all look bad in some way.. I know your upset about this, he had a choice and he made the wrong one, for that he will pay a price. Trust is earned always, and should be held close and honored.

lady cop · Post by **lady cop** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 7:47 pm

David, thankyou for vote of confidence. i almost hated to post this because it opens a can of worms. but let me say this...IA is the scariest thing on earth and you do not want them after your butt! they are ruthless in their investigations, and cut no slack. they don't cover anything up and you know what, i am glad we have IA and police ourselves. high speed chases is a whole other thread. this was a crime of moral turpitude.....PS...we have so much oversight we better check the oil and kick the tires of cruisers and log it...nevermiind serious stuff. we are quite constrained which is fine with me.

David813 · Post by **David813** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 7:53 pm

TW2005 wrote: I heard about this. Absolutely disgusting. Cops rally around others who knowingly did something wrong. Is it policy to chase a car in 35 zones at 80mph and broadside a car with 2 girls in it and kill them both? And then have the support of people with a badge. Why dont I just get behind the wheel and kill someone. I bet I wont get away with it.

(sorry David had to correct you, the car had 2 girls in it and both died)That makes it even worse! I'm surprised you heard of it. It was all over local/regional news last winter.

BabyRider · Post by **BabyRider** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 8:05 pm

TW2005 wrote: I heard about this. Absolutely disgusting. Cops rally around others who knowingly did something wrong. Is it policy to chase a car in 35 zones at 80mph and broadside a car with 2 girls in it and kill them both? And then have the support of people with a badge. Why dont I just get behind the wheel and kill someone. I bet I wont get away with it.

(sorry David had to correct you, the car had 2 girls in it and both died)And then you have cops like LC who post their stories in public places, decrying their fellow cops actions.

99% of cops do more good every single day of their careers than most of us can ever hope to do in a lifetime. It's when the ocassional bad one comes to light that there is this "public outrage." If only there were enough hours in the day to tell all the stories of all the cops in all the cities all over the country who do their job, do it well, and even die doing it. Or have stress related illnesses that effect the rest of their lives.

Yeah, TW, why DON'T you jump behind the wheel of a car and go kill someone? It would definitely make all of us feel better about what the cops in MO did. :-5

lady cop · Post by **lady cop** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 8:20 pm

TW...what you refer to is a PIT...police intervention technique...if they did it there was a reason and the zone commander called for it. were you there? i wasn't.

BabyRider · Post by **BabyRider** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 8:26 pm

lady cop wrote: TW...what you refer to is a PIT...police intervention technique...if they did it there was a reason and the zone commander called for it. were you there? i wasn't.I should be a fortune-teller, 'cuz I can tell you EXACTLY what's coming next....

lady cop · Post by **lady cop** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 8:33 pm

BabyRider wrote: I should be a fortune-teller, 'cuz I can tell you EXACTLY what's coming next....*sigh* i know, but this thread was not about defending the bad. it was about my sadness at the bad, who i went through the police academy with, i will never understand it. we busted our butts out there, together.

David813 · Post by **David813** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 9:04 pm

I still think of the police dashboard camera that caught the tragic end to the chase. As the cops raced thru a 35 at 80 plus the victims red car comes into view for just a second. You SEE one of the girls looking at the camera as the car crashes into them, killing them both. The "high fives" the cops gave eachother after exoneration was truly stomach turning. If it were me that hit them at that speed I'd be in jail for a double homicide! Maybe the Key West cops are better than the ones we have.

abbey · Post by **abbey** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 11:22 pm

LC, you must be feeling very dissapointed in your fellow officer, the sad thing is, when something like this happens it tends to cast a shadow on the rest of the dept.

Thankfully not all officers are like this, take heart in the fact that the majority of Police are good & decent fellows X.

Bothwell · Post by **Bothwell** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 1:28 am

What you obviously forget LC is that the whole population that are not cops are all fine upstanding citizens who never ever make a mistake. Because of their job we expect cops to be of a higher moral standard than the rest of us, why?

As always it's these incidents that make the press, "99% of Cops did a good job today" is hardly the material for headlines is it.

I know the case you are talking about and the sheriff has him out of there like a bullet and made it a matter of public record, good for him.

cars · Post by **cars** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 2:52 am

"One" Bad apple does not ruin the "barrel"!!!! :guitarist

Cars :driving:

(Unless left there too long)

Peg · Post by **Peg** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 5:25 am

Cops are human. They are going to do stupid things too. The only difference is, when he's brought before the judge, will he be treated as a cop or as just another person? Our Chief of Police here, in a very small town, has gotten out of domestic violence, DUI's, etc. yet the people still put up with it because they are afraid to go to city council and have to face the music from speaking their minds.

lady cop · Post by **lady cop** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 8:26 am

hey Peg...he will be dealt with MORE harshly by the judge because of the public trust placed in him. he is one that should have known better. he has lost his badge, his reputation, all he worked towards to become state certified, all in the toilet over stuff i among others warned him about. your chief...he will get away with it until he is arrested. then it's a different story. but since the locals don't arrest him , the staties or feds have to come in and investigate, they'll do it. they just need some evidence to start an investigation.

lady cop · Post by **lady cop** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 9:27 am

the absolute WORST was a great cop we all loved...vice, SWAT,seemed very religious, was a good prospective candidate for sheriff one day. so he and a couple others decided it would be ok to rob drug dealers. well that practice escalated...greed is an insidious cancer. one night they stalked a guy carrying $50,000. they were just going to rob him. but it got out of hand and the next thing you know the victim was dead in the back seat of a cruiser. a federal investigation ensued, his buddies turned state's evidence to save themselves from death row. this man who i liked and respected so much was looking at death row. the verdict was guilty. we waited 4 days to see if it would be death. it was life without parole instead. i waited with him for that verdict at the facility where he was being housed. the whole thing was a horror. i still get cards from him from federal prison, but never answer them. it would be worth my badge to answer. it was a very very sad epidode for us.

Jives · Post by **Jives** » Thu Apr 21, 2005 10:37 am

I am right therre on the same page with you. LC. Recently a few teachers have been caught molesting young boys. (a couple of younger female teachers mostly, at least we seem to be screening out the male child molesters))

What is their stupid problem? Teaching children, like protecting the public, is a position of trust! It makes us all look bad!

I'm not even going to ask what the charges were, since it's the fact that he broke the law he was hired to enforce, not what he did that matters.

At least you show that you can't judge a group by one individual.

lady cop · Post by **lady cop** » Tue May 03, 2005 6:40 am

god i can't take much more of this....we're in our briefing. (remember the scene in hill street blues, 'be careful out there'?) ....so IA comes in and arrests one of our guys.right in front of us in the middle of briefing. seems he was writing his own Rx. addicted to pain-killers. took him right to booking in the back of a cruiser, in uniform, the booking officer couldn't even look at him for the tears. i asked IA why they did this in briefing in front of everyone,they said because they were afraid to do it at his home in front of his kids and him having a weapon, might off himself. i am gasping in disbelief. :-1