kingtycoon | (no subject)

(no subject)

The federal government came to town & who knew? I guess this all started back when there was that psychotic shooting of those kids down by the windermere station - and it's come back at a time when the police murdered that poor little kid at a playground. These events I guess, are emblematic of the ongoing failings of uniformed authority? I mean - who knew? I never took the local police to be anything but representative of all police everywhere - so maybe I was all wrong? I can't tell you what's the case, I can tell you that I hadn't thought about it in that light before - that the situation of law enforcement would be decayed and horrible here, more so than elsewhere - but that's probably just foolish on my part - given the decay & ruin of every other aspect of life here - you know - in the Waste-Land.

My experience of the Police has always been confrontational and disingenuous. I got arrested for not paying a speeding ticket fast enough. I was handcuffed for four hours before they'd let me pay the ticket. I've been robbed many, many times, fifty? I think around 50. At least 20 of those times were break-ins, wrecked windows the whole thing - in those instances, I showed up before the police, left after them, relied pretty expressly on the two ladies that had a business of boarding up windows after midnight. I think in one case, that I can remember, the police had a form for me to fill out - most of the other times I had to go to the police station during normal business hours. In one instance my money or merchandise was recovered. I have been put in three point position at least 4 times, and in two of those instances I think I was actually the victim of a crime in the first place. Mainly I've experienced the police swearing at me needlessly during any encounter or discussion. That's it.

You? Good experiences? Bad?

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I don't trust "the cops". Like, my brother's brother in law is a cop and I know him to be a good man who is not out to play GI Joe (uh, though he was in the Army) and he's just a guy trying to make a living. I have a friend whose father was a US Marshall, and he was one of my favorite people in the world. Another friend's father was killed in the line of duty by a crazy man when my friend's father knocked on his door to offer him free parking passes to a city festival.

But in my firsthand experience they are not to be trusted in anything more than ones. One cop = may be okay. Cops = never okay. When my boyfriend at the time assaulted me in March 2010 and I went to the police they made it very clear that they didn't believe me, that I was making it up because I was a spurned lover, and that I was wasting everyone's time.

When they questioned my assailant they asked him if he wanted press charges on me for kicking his window out (BECAUSE HE WAS COMING AT ME WITH A ROLL OF DUCT TAPE TO TAPE MY WRISTS ANKLES AND MOUTH AND I WAS TRYING TO ESCAPE). They told him I was bipolar because I seemed "manic" (I am not) and they questioned me endlessly on "why did you wait till the next morning? why didn't you come right to the police station?" (maybe because I was in shock and traumatized and curled in the fetal position?) When I showed them the bruises on my arms they told me to come back the next day to have them photographed. I did, and I had to take my shirt off and stand in a tank top with three male cops touching me to turn me to take the photos. They later said that the pictures weren't admissable, that since they didn't take them right away I could've gone home and done it to myself.

The entire department failed me, the victim's advocate blew me off and gave me the runaround and then went on vacation after promising "I'll call you tomorrow" but hey at least the cops showed up at the trial, my own lawyer didn't! I agreed to a plea so I didn't have to testify because I knew the cops didn't believe me. They at least interviewed the people in the apartment building to see if they heard anything and 6 of the people they interviewed said they heard me screaming "HELP ME CALL 911 PLEASE HELP HE'S GOING TO KILL ME" for 10 minutes and no one did.

I don't trust anyone who carries a gun though, so that doesn't help.

Guns, I'm with you. Lately I think it's not a real idea that people won't want or have them. I think the alternative is to just shame as gross those who do.

On this, we agree.

This is not even getting into the many many confrontations during Occupy or other protests or the times I had stuff stolen and nothing ever became of it.

I uh, have Many Feelings about this and was just literally this week diagnosed with PTSD so, also consider that coloring my judgement.

I know a bunch of cops. Great guys all. Total trust and faith in them. I'd like to pretend they are the norm, but even they admit that they are not. (It occurs to me now that all of the cops I know have been some form of cop special forces. SWAT team guys and such.) It takes effort to be a good cop and it takes effort to stay a good person while being a cop, and just like most people don't put the effort in to being superlative at whatever their job is, well, neither do most cops. And then, I have never had to deal with my cop-friends as cops. They've never pulled me over for speeding or decided I looked suspicious while trying to find my keys or whatever. Who knows what they are like when they are doing their job?

But I have never had an on-duty police officer acting in a professional capacity be anything remotely resembling useful to me. The times my house has been robbed, it has always been clear that reporting it was a waste of my time and the cops had no interest. I have never reported anything worse and I expect it would have gone just as badly.

So, yeah, pretty much what you said, with the caveat of "I know a few good guys."

I have no reason to be afraid of cops, but I am. It's not quite instinctual -- I remind myself they are not to be trusted, which goes against my usual white girl trust of all authorities. But then the last time I was pulled over I cried hysterically because I was so afraid (this was in Boston) and then got off with a white girl's warning. So. I dunno. Fuck the police. Fuck the system.

I've been fortunate for most of my life. Until the two most recent ones.

One was more sinister-ish; the other straight up terrifying.

I was riding home on a holiday evening, and as I was on the road, I noticed a car slowing up and speeding down after me. They weren't passing. It creeped me the fuck out. It was late. Being that I didn't know if it was a drunk driver (in Wisconsin, especially :\) I decided to go down a side street and hope it wasn't going to follow me. I saw it in my rearview (since I didn't have the damn lights shining in my my mirror when I turned off), and saw it was a cop.

I turned around and went back on my way. He had turned into a lot right near that turn off so of course, as I passed him, he pulled out again. I just pulled over at that point, expecting he was gonna pull me over anyways, so, whatever.

He asked me why I pulled over, I told him that the way he was driving, pulling up to me close like that then backing off freaked me out - especially since I had a sister that died from a drunk driver, so I pulled over in case he was a drunk driver, so I would be safe. He gave me a verbal warning for a "light out" in my plate. Which apparently is why he initially was trying to get close - he couldn't see my plate. Whatevs. He wasn't terrible, but there was a little standoffish attitude. I could understand that one, at least, even if what he did was dumb.

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Second one, that was much worse - perhaps you were my friend on LJ by then, but I don't know.

I had ran a red light, trying to get through by speeding up before it turned. I didn't see any cop car or anything. Anyways, I'm pulling up on a ramp to an exit and then as I'm on the exit lane, I hear sirens (but do not see anything at that point. I'm hoping it's not me, but since I don't see anything I keep driving). Then I get on my exit, which is a weird crowded type exit, so lots of traffic blockage possible if I pull over, which is why, when I saw the truck behind me with it's lights on, I decided I was close to the parking lot of where I was going I would just pull in there and not impede traffic, so as the traffic kept going I moved into the lot and he drover around and blocked me stormed out of his vehicle totally yelling at me and had his hand right at his holster ready to pull out, what I dearly hope was a Taser. I just saw him in that position that any second he was gonna draw. I was terrified. He asked why I didn't pull over - I told him I didn't want to impede the flow of traffic.

At some point in this whole exchange I started just bawling tears of pure terror. An agent of the state was getting very confrontational with me, when I had done nothing, I thought (yes, I ran the red light but I didn't make that connection at first, since I didn't see the vehicle til a bit later.) He doesn't know this, of course, but that total attitude, when I HAD MY HANDS ON THE WHEEL THE WHOLE TIME. He pulled me into the lot told me I'm supposed to stop right then and there and that *HE* would direct me to safer place to park. Apparently that's how it works, even though I've heard many times that you should pull over into a place where you feel safe. Prolly Urban Legend. Anyways, He took pity on me for bawling my eyes out, I guess. I'm sure he was relieved that I wasn't aggressive. Still.

I can only imagine how that interaction may have gone were I black.

I can't believe you've had to deal with that much. I know you call it the Waste-Land, but damn.

I've had my car broken into once, and that's it so far in my life. Actually twice, I guess - once when I was in the gas station and my Nintendo DS got stolen, but that's not relevant.

Anyways, my friend was in downtown Phoenix and took video of the protest there, apparently during the "First Friday Art Night"... Phalanx of Pigs, she said it was intense, and getting super crazy.

Heh. Well, before we were LJ pals I used to own a chain of retail stores. Cash businesses, like all proper Arabs. I've only been personally robbed twice- both times by Agatha's mother... My shops got knocked over on a monthly basis though. I think in '03 I had a robbery or theft weekly. More than once the cops basically accused me of doing it myself.

My personal experiences have been better than that. Sometimes police have been dicks to me, ordering me to do something they had no real right to do. I've gotten tickets, never had to get out of the car. I've never been arrested.

When my house got robbed, they didn't do all that much on the scene in the way of gathering evidence -- it was very disappointingly unlike TV detective shows where they science everything. They checked for fingerprints in a few places, couldn't find any, and that was it. Somehow they still were onto the people who nicked my stuff, and ended up recovering two things, while another two things were never recovered.

I still believe absolutely that they abuse their authority regularly, with impunity, and have seen more than enough proof.

They can be useful if you know how to deal with them and you happen to deal with a good one. But the best policy is to avoid having to deal with them as much as possible.

I feel like you told me that what was taken from your house was a bunch of guns? Does that wear on your conscience?

I guess if you wanted to call three "a bunch"...

No, it doesn't really. I was a victim of a crime. Of course, it bothers me that they are out there, no longer in my control, and could be used to hurt people, but I wouldn't say it's on my conscience if that happens.

I think the Cleveland PD is representative of police everywhere. I think this is exceptional & I hope it will become less so.

My personal attitude is that the police should be disarmed. I think there's no next step without that

In my experience, the police have either been useless (when I've been the victim of a crime) or terrifying (as a protester, as a child, etc.). The nice friendly school cop at my last school once told me that yeah, he'd beat my skull in if he had to at the G20. I'm pretty sure he was serious.

This said, these encounters have nothing on the everyday lives of people of colour, and here, particularly black and First Nations people. They mostly leave me alone.

i am fearful of the police, and do not trust them, though i have no reason not to on a personal level.

i have had two experiences where i could have been mistreated and wasn't however, and both i had been drinking to excess and was being an absolute lunatic. the first was in lakewood and i was probably on the verge of blackout which was the norm for me at the time. i was screaming and crying and who the heck knows what else, at the ex who had yet to move out of my apartment. though i usually only threatened to harm myself, he would have been right to fear for his safety since i was completely out of control and thrashing about whenever he tried to calm me. i dont know who called the police or if it was even my suggestion, it could have been, because i knew the only thing that would keep me safe was a trip to the er. they came and i dont ever remember being mishandled, nor did i get report of that from said ex. i was wearing a t-shirt that said "fuck post" on it, and i cannot imagine what kind of a mess i must have looked. i also had a marijuana pipe in my pocket which i still had in my pocket when i returned home. they took me to the hospital where i was medicated till i was sober. i am not sure who transported me to the psych ward after that, probably ambulance, but the MEDICAL system failed me when they sent me in a fucking taxi cab to go to laurelwood for 3 days of detox. thats a crazy joke as far as im concerned.

second, i was again drinking and out of control, this with my husband at the time. the police were called on us by a neighbor, as i was screaming like a lunatic. neither of us were taken from the house, and actually, their presence sobered me and quieted me down quite successfully. i was running around with a knife, again, quite the lunatic, and my ex and they could have easily claimed i was insane and used force.

my fear of authority probably was to my advantage because i went on best behavior (as much as was possible in my state) when they arrived. i dont count on it being pretty white girl, because i know what i look like when i cry and get in fits, and that is anything but pretty.

i did have an irritating experience where i was pulled over on woodland, just past the projects at six am for going through a just turned red light. the cop kept me there, chit chatting, when i told him i was speeding because i was late for work. im not joking he told me stories of his mother being a nurse and how i was replacing her generation because they were retiring and how i needed to slow down because the people needed me to get to work safe. i didnt even get out of the ticket for listening to 15 minutes of stories about his mother being a pediatric nurse. $200, 15 minutes late to work, and a smug attitude.

other than that, i was at a friends gun range out in a township just a few months ago and the cops showed up to find about 10 of us firing various rifles and pistols. they came with hands on weapons, told us all to put the guns down and put our hands up, we did, they came and asked what we were doing and we told them, and they then chatted with one of the guys about a potentially valuable handgun he had and then went on their merry ways.

i feel lucky, and i still feel like its a toss of a coin as far as what you can encounter when it comes to law enforcement these days.

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