Just a quick note to point out something that really annoyed me this morning. Chicago cops are protesting at police headquarters.
Before the marchers stepped off, several hundred officers were gathering in front of police headquarters, carrying signs including “More police/No Weis!!”, “Simply resign” and “Free Cozzi,” referring to Officer William Cozzi, who was convicted of beating a handcuffed patient in an incident that was caught on videotape.
Yup. Chicago cops are seriously pissed off that one of their own wasn’t allowed to beat up a citizen who was already handcuffed to a wheelchair. They are so upset about losing their rights to beat handcuffed wheelchair bound citizens they need to picket Superintendent Jody Weis, who did nothing to stop the evil federal government from prosecuting the fine upstanding officer who did the beating.
Others have said sweeping personnel changes at the start of his tenure sent the wrong message. But his handling of Cozzi, who beat a suspect handcuffed to a wheelchair, rankled officers the most.
A female demonstrator who said she was an 11-year veteran of the police department but who declined to give her name, was wearing a yellow T-shirt reading: “In case of emergency, run like hell!”
“We don’t run away, we go to,” she said.
Yes, the heroism of officers like William Cozzi has been documented.
Don’t you understand? If police become afraid to beat up people in wheelchairs it will be the end of civilization! Gangs of criminals will roam the streets beating people up with no fear of being locked away for their crimes!
“First they came for the cops who beat up people in wheelchairs, and I did not speak out — because I was not a cop who beat up people in wheelchairs. Then they came for the cops who extorted freebies from hookers, and I did not speak out — because I was not a cop who extorted freebies from hookers. Then they came for the cops who…”
The age-old question still comes to mind;with all of the serious problems we hve in society,why aren’t cops worried about the real crimials? Brave,honorable people don’t mistreat the responsibilities bestowed upon them by beating defenseless citezens. I have held the idea for years that cops are not even a natural aspect in human society. Why does Joe Public need a gang to protect them? After all,the police forces across America are nothing more than glorified gang bangers. Our society needs only depend on the protection we can provide for ourselves. We are losing our rights as American citezens everyday because we’ve gotten so lazy as to let a group of individuals step in and pretend to be doing the job we should be doing;protecting ourselves from crime. On the economical side of things,think of all the money we could be saving ourselves by eliminating the use of police forces. When you (reader) really “need” a cop,how quickly do they respond? When they do respond,how efficiently do they execute the duties expected of them in order to resolve the problem? The answer to these questions is,not nearly as quickly and efficiently as is required by the exorbitant amounts of money that are paid out every year by us in taxes. Yes,you and i are paying these thug’s salaries only to suffer from less-than-sub-par service and abuse every chance they get. “To protect and to serve”. Sure;to protect themselves from prosecution for the brutal crimes they commit and to serve themselves with the money we pay to keep them funded in order to carry out the corruption deeply embedded in their system. Get smart America. Police yourself and rid society of the real criminals; cops.
The ability to pool resources should allow for organized police forces to be more efficient than individuals cooperating on the fly. I can see how easy it is to become so cynical that you can see no good reason for any police, but I would be happy with some simple, logical reforms.
I remember years ago reading about the same crap in Chicago and an independent board made some good suggestions, like requiring all police to have a four-year college degree. Studies had shown that people with such degrees tended to have a better temperament for the job, and the extra education would help with critical thinking about complex problems.
It all made sense, but the police union fought it. When a compromise of a two-year degree was offered, the union still opposed it. When talk of a special two year, dumbed-down cop-only degree was put forth, the union still threatened action. The union seems to want uneducated cops.
Another simple “reform” today would be to have police record everything they do. The technology is simple and inexpensive (especially when compared to lawsuits) and has worked in other cities such as London.
I still believe that an organized police force can work, but they need to be squeaky clean in every respect. We give them special powers, so they need to be held to higher standards. There should be tougher sentences for all laws when a cop breaks them, and we need to stop all forms of bribery; even small, seemingly innocuous stuff like police discounts.