(no subject)

[kingtycoon]

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?

Comments

[daliah.livejournal.com]

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.