Gyroscopic Investing

Ok, not really...but for:

three felonies: one count of eluding police and two counts of assaulting a law enforcement officer. In Virginia, each of these Class Six felonies carries up to five years in prison and up to $2,500 in fines.

All because:

A University of Virginia student spent a night and good part of the next day in jail after seven plain-clothes agents from the state’s Alcoholic Beverage Control division ambushed her.

The student, 20-year-old Elizabeth Daly, made the mistake of walking to her car with bottled water, cookie dough and ice cream in a dark supermarket parking lot near the UVA campus, reports The Daily Progress.

The seven agents sprung aggressively into action, suspecting that the student was carrying was a 12-pack of beer. She was actually carrying a sky-blue carton of LaCroix sparkling water.

Police admit that one of the high-strung agents vaulted onto the hood of Daly’s car. She contends that one of them also drew a gun.

So on top of being spied on, having my home broken into "mistakenly" and possibly being shot in the confusion, now I have to worry that plain clothes "Peace Officers" are going to come bursting out of the bushes because I happen to like bottled water?  Honestly, if it were me I'd probably be dead because I may have shot one of them before I saw the badges...assuming it's true that they pulled a gun.  Then again, maybe if a few "accidents" happen they'll get the picture as to what a really STUPID idea this is.  I also love how we can't make a dent in violent crime, but we can allocate 7 officers to make sure a college student isn't buying alcohol underage.  Hooray for my tax dollars!

http://news.yahoo.com/uva-student-jaile ... 17476.html

That doesn't even sound like a real government agency. Well, except for the dude in Boardwalk Empire.

I LOL'd at this part:

"A spokeswoman for Alcoholic Beverage Control’s regional office, Carol Mawyer, refused to provide details other than saying that the bureau’s agents cunningly wear plainclothes."

Kriegsspiel wrote: I LOL'd at this part:

"A spokeswoman for Alcoholic Beverage Control’s regional office, Carol Mawyer, refused to provide details other than saying that the bureau’s agents cunningly wear plainclothes."

Don't the criminals do that too?

How are you supposed to tell them apart when they are attacking you in a dark parking lot if the bad guys and the cops look the same?

F*cking Floating pigs.

[Mod edit: Changed to less offensive Pink Floyd reference to undesirable authority figures.]

moda0306 wrote: F*cking Floating pigs.

It's an unfortunate fact that the few good men like my cousins husband, who was a cop before making detective several years ago, and truly wants to protect and serve, seem to be completely lost in an endless sea of thugs on a power trip at best. At worst our "boys in blue," who may or may not even be in uniform, display behaviors that wouldn't be out of place in the ranks of any number of secret police forces that have served oppressive regimes.

This would be less troubling if it weren't for their almost total lack of accountability. Even with video and audio evidence they may as well be the creepy bad guy from Lethal Weapon (insert number here) yelling "diplomatic immunity!"

While I think the greatest tragedy is the victimization of the citizenry by these Gestapo wanna-be's, the risk that the good men and women who risk their lives to try and reduce crime somewhat is also troubling, even if their efforts are wasted on foolish things like the war in drugs (off topic).

Instead of the pigs reference above, how about we use the term "conniving curly tails"?

Just want to keep it family friendly, you know?

MediumTex wrote: Instead of the pigs reference above, how about we use the term "conniving curly tails"?

Just want to keep it family friendly, you know?

Fornicating swine? Copulating hogs?

Porcine propagators? 

Pointedstick wrote:

MediumTex wrote: Instead of the pigs reference above, how about we use the term "conniving curly tails"?

Just want to keep it family friendly, you know?

Fornicating swine? Copulating hogs?

"Miss Piggy Turning Tricks"

or maybe

"Wild Boars Gone Wild!"

I think cops are human just like the rest of us.  Thus, I have neither inherent respect nor inherent distrust for them.  Some are heroes and some are thugs.  These particular ones sound like thugs.

dragoncar wrote: I think cops are human just like the rest of us.  Thus, I have neither inherent respect nor inherent distrust for them.  Some are heroes and some are thugs.  These particular ones sound like thugs.

Disagree. They've been given an incredible amount of power, priveledge, and lack of accountability. The police fall into a similar class as politicians, without being elected. They are hardly a representative sample of humanity.

If I were a police officer, I'd make a concerted effort to be the anti-thug. Treat people with a ton if respect and wear my authority knowing it's questionable and that plenty of my boys in blue have used that authority for ends ranging from harassment to murder.

However, I find that too many of the cops on the good end of the spectrum act like you're screwing up their day just by being around.

moda0306 wrote: If I were a police officer, I'd make a concerted effort to be the anti-thug. Treat people with a ton if respect and wear my authority knowing it's questionable and that plenty of my boys in blue have used that authority for ends ranging from harassment to murder.

Sadly, that's probably why you're not a cop. The attitude of the profession these days seems to be much more militaristic, much less about protecting the public, and much more about dragging out the suspect no matter what, regardless of who they are, what they're suspected of, etc. I mean, they taser children and pregnant women for crying out loud.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/0 ... 08838.html

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/ ... 172950.php

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,138488,00.html

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/03 ... sered?lite

http://www.salon.com/2012/10/31/cop_use ... r_old_boy/

It's pretty depressing how many articles I found searching for "taser pregnant woman" and "taser child". I think that says it all. I mean, from one of the stories:

“Defendant Webb responded by pointing his Taser at [10 year-old] R.D. and saying, ‘Let me show you what happens to people who do not listen to the police.’”?

Simonjester wrote:

moda0306 wrote: If I were a police officer, I'd make a concerted effort to be the anti-thug. Treat people with a ton if respect and wear my authority knowing it's questionable and that plenty of my boys in blue have used that authority for ends ranging from harassment to murder.

However, I find that too many of the cops on the good end of the spectrum act like you're screwing up their day just by being around.

i suspect most of the cops on the good end or on the bad end of the spectrum, have their day screwed up the minute they clock in... number of hours a year helping grateful granny get her cat off roof < ".001" numbers of hours spent dealing with drug addicted, lying,dangerous sacks of "...." who have spent so much time telling lies they have become physically incapable of truth >"all the rest"
its hard to be Andy Taylor on most modern cop beats..

i am not letting the bad cops off the hook.. but i have spent enough time around the "best" of the bad bunch that they deal with every day to have plenty of empathy for their situation..

Good God.  How pathetic and embarrassing if you're a cop and have to use a tazer on a 10 year old or a pregnant woman.

I think most of these guys have good intentions, but this is the product of group think.  They work, train, interact, socialize and just about everything else with other "cops", so this type of mentality gets ingrained into their brain to the point at which they start to lose a sense of reality.

I will say, one thing that I find really ridiculous is the amount of police department time, money and resources goes into SWAT training and equipment.  I think particularly since 911, basically every rinky-dink, po-dunk police department now has an armored vehicle for swat/hostage situations. 

I was at a town festival in a small rural town with a population <5,000 and the local PD had an armored Humvee on display.  I was really appalled at that waste of money and the lack of logic that went into the purchase.  This town was in rural KS, where it literally resembles Mayberry.

clacy wrote: Good God.  How pathetic and embarrassing if you're a cop and have to use a tazer on a 10 year old or a pregnant woman.

I don't think they have to. I think they want to.

Pointedstick wrote:

clacy wrote: Good God.  How pathetic and embarrassing if you're a cop and have to use a tazer on a 10 year old or a pregnant woman.

I don't think they have to. I think they want to.

This. It's all a power trip. They know they're damn near untouchable, how does that kind of power NOT go to a person's head.  How many police shootings result in a funeral and a paid vacation but no jail time or even a conviction?  At least most politicians content themselves with wasting our money and trampling our freedom, but have the decency to let us live. Unless you're a soldier...off topic again.

Edit:  Case in point. Police are a special class of animal that is an automatic death sentence if you kill one, but the rest of us are a rung or two below. What the hell? 

My angst is strong tonight. Maybe it's all the tasered kids and pregnant women. Who knows.