AZhitman wrote:Bottom line is, I think we've established a few things:
1) Jaywalking sounds like a s*** ticket. In many cases, it's really not.
2) Police officer did what needed to be done, given the situation AS IT PRESENTED ITSELF AT THAT SECOND.
3) Some people could use a pop in the piehole, if only to reorient themselves to their true position in the universe.
4) The only people criticizing the officer are those with preconceived (and usually unvalidated) misconceptions about police officers, their role, and their training.
1. Its very likely based on the brief two minute video that these two unintelligent (I'm being too nice) women (again, being too nice, they're more like apes) were crossing a dangerous intersection and disrupting traffic, as Seattle is a busy and congested city, but you can't go around enforcing every law on the books 100% of the time. Some laws have specific intentions, and when applied to everyone, all the time, you wind up with an oppressive atmosphere.
For example, here's where you and I might agree: healthcare legislation was intended to help the so-called "needy", but it ends up screwing over all of us because of broader implications. Such is the nature of law and government, and the reason why its powers are limited and imperfections in the free market or the flawed conduct of citizens in public are accepted as a better alternative to draconian control.
You can't go "ARGH BIG GOVERNMENT SUCKS ARGH" and then turn around and let local law enforcement do whatever it wants without close examination. Sometimes, examining and questioning the actions of public servants results in nothing, which is usually the case as too many community organizers (Obama's old job) play politics for personal gain, but sometimes it reveals corruption.
I live in well-run Chesterfield, a town of 45,000 mostly well-to-do people with a AAA city credit rating and no need for ticket collection as a revenue source, but I have towns like Foristell MO (abusive traffic enforcement) and St George MO (department disbanded, d!ck cops poorly trained, police chief likes kiddie p0rn) within 30-45 minutes of me.
Its a real problem.
Laws with very specific intentions are vulnerable to being enforced abusively, leading to distrust at best and rioting and social unrest at worst. Its a fact that jaywalking tickets were used by Detroit police to harass people who were otherwise minding their own business. And remember, in the 1960s, Detroit was booming like Seattle did until recently.
There's an ongoing and important side argument here about the law and its intent. The law is more effective retributively rather than as a preventative measure or method of social control, otherwise the war on drugs would have prevented all of us from ever getting stoned and no one would ever get drunk and go for a drive. Jaywalking laws are less useful for keeping people from crossing busy streets but effective for making jaywalkers liable for their actions.
2. The department had concerns about how he handled the situation as it escalated, but NOT with the punch. It doesn't even look like she was hit hard enough to bust a lip.
3. The law doesn't work that way, thank goodness. Feels good for me to imagine it though: every assclown thugtard gets knocked down a peg.
4. Remember, Greg, you worked with the state of Arizona. You did NOT work in some of these s*** cities and towns across America chock full of corruption and underqualified people who think they're superheroes because someone gave them a badge. Routines and procedures vary, and most importantly, so do levels of training. The police here in Chesterfield are part of an accredited organization who treat me as I deserve to be treated and respond to emergencies VERY quickly. I'd rate them a 10/10. But I would hate to have lived in St George MO prior to the town's switch to county police. Those guys were sleezebags who propositioned teenage girls they pulled over for sex and taunted drivers for no good reason. They're now jobless thanks to a few diligent citizens waking up and paying attention.
So, I'll give the cop in the video a lot more credit than I originally did, but I hope his training and review help him find better ways of managing that kind of situation. It'll happen again. A couple bad moves is all it takes to cause an uprising and turn a high-brow metropolis into another Los Angeles or Detroit. Hopefully the two skanks in the video spend a few months in jail or a year or two picking up garbage and piss bottles on the side of I-5.
As for law enforcement in general, its government, and I keep my eyes open on the police the same way I do with congress.
It's ok, you're Brown. You'll get an A.
