Why not just...

[3043]

Why not just start arresting people who are thinking about criminal behavoir, it would save these cops a step?


http://www.nbc5i.com/news/8034788/detail.html

[psychonaut13]

this can't be legal....

[sylverarrow]

I guess I'll stop going to the bars now. Getting a drunk it public only takes like 1 to 2 beers anyhow. Seems wrong, if this takes off, they might as well close the bars and clubs then. Everyone would be in jail.

[3043]

this can't be legal....

denial is the first step in the grieving process

anger is the second and here is a link to that http://www.unknownnews.net/

bargaining follows that (i think that's where i am)

depression is next

acceptance is last (looking forward to it)

[GraffiXX]

It aint legal...They just like taking every god given right away from you...No offense Jethro...But fuck the Police especially around Va. Those dickheads would prolly do some shit like that. Now I think as far as public intoxication goes I see no problem with it....as long as you arent startin shit.

[JimbobSS]

Leave it to the Jolly wonderful state of Texas, proud homeland of gay cowboys, to do something as ignorant as that! Seriously, what was going through those officers heads? what on earth could they possibly be thinking that it was the right thing to do? WHO THE FUCK DO THEY THINK THEY ARE ANYWAY!?!? ok, I need to calm down. You know of course, this means war.:evil:

[3043]

What I don't get is how can those police officers participate in some obviously anti-american behavior? I realize that lots of people can be unpatriotic but can you get enough of them together to behave a certain way?

Do they think, at night when they go to sleep, "wow, I'm so good at my job, what a good thing I did today by arresting people and treating american citizens as if they were citizens of 1960 Russia or modern China?"


You have to work hard to collect a group of non-thinking assholes together to break the law under the pretense of law enforcement.

[Maull]

You have to work hard to collect a group of non-thinking assholes together to break the law under the pretense of law enforcement.


its called government

[thegreaterbad]

What I don't get is how can those police officers participate in some obviously anti-american behavior? I realize that lots of people can be unpatriotic but can you get enough of them together to behave a certain way?

Do they think, at night when they go to sleep, "wow, I'm so good at my job, what a good thing I did today by arresting people and treating american citizens as if they were citizens of 1960 Russia or modern China?"


You have to work hard to collect a group of non-thinking assholes together to break the law under the pretense of law enforcement.



Ummm, it isnt illegal to arrest someone who is drunk in a public place...Its called "Public Intoxication" for a reason. I dont agree with the idea myself, but Texas has always had crazy ideas

But what I am wondering is how 3043 can turn any incident into a "anti-american, the government is taking our freedoms." conspiracy.

And none of you live in Iriving, Texas.....Just because it looks like a very drastic measure, how do you know that the reason they targeted those bars was because of multiple cases of drunken driving originating from those certain places. I feel safe because FL has cooler cops, and they would be arresting each other if the police chief signed off on this one..:badgrin:

Lol, i still cant get over "What I don't get is how can those police officers participate in some obviously anti-american behavior?" --3043

Anti-American police officers now...lol.. We have all heard of Racist and Corrupt police officers, but Anti-American police officers is a new one.

Let me guess, next we are going to have Anti-American firefighters, or even better Anti-American soldiers in Iraq who are dying for Americans. I am too anxious to see who will be labeled Anti-American next:rolleyes:

[Sammie]

. I am too anxious to see who will be labeled Anti-American next:rolleyes:

how about you?? :wink:

[Nebula]

Once I became old enough to drink, I always thought that was kind of an interesting 'grey' area. I asked a friend of mine

'if cops really want to catch drunk drivers... why dont they just sit outside of bars?'

his only response was that people would warn other people that cops were sitting outside, and no one would leave until they were gone.

Now, dont get me wrong - I think its pretty retarded and fucked up that they would go as far as going INSIDE of the bar to see if people are getting drunk. That, to me, is like going inside of a club to check if people are dancing... _OBVIOUSLY_... they are.

Now, my question is - what makes a bar "not public" ...honestly, when I get drunk.. and I LEAVE a bar ... there are less people around me to witness me being retarded than there are INSIDE of the bar.

Without making this long winded, I guess all I am saying is ... yes, it is stupid to drink and drive... but as some people stated before... if I am not causing any problems, I should be able to be drunk wherever I please.

[3043]

You are right GB, those cops were some patriotic, constitution respecting americans. :shock:

Did you even read the article? :rolleyes:

When you violate a persons rights you are anti-american. Period.

They stalked and spied on patrons who had commited NO CRIME. The basically laid in wait to pounce on INNOCENT CITIZENS.

What you are suggesting is that since Texas has some "crazy" laws their infringements on a person's rights is ok?

Or are you suggesting the ends justifies the means?

Or are you saying just because it's happening somewhere else in the USA and not in my town I shouldn't give a shit?

When you give a gov't an inch of your rights as a citizen they always take yard eventually. Every time. That's why I label these cops as anti-american. Could you categorize their behavior as pro-american? Or even neutral?

The ends never, ever justifies the means when it comes to the a government ruling it's people. Never, not once.


But cops violate the constitution all the time to make the arrest. That's fine, I can deal with it - its not a perfect world.

But.

When they do it flagrantly, wantonly and as if they are in the right anyway then I have a HUGE problem with it.

I don't ever want to be that safe from "public intoxication" that the police are snooping around bars in such numbers that they are arresting 30 people a night.


BTW I don't want to that safe from any other drunken crimes. The world is a dangerous place. Always has been and it always will be. The safety created by such actions is only an illusion.


Even worse, when the gov't behaves this way - and make no mistake the police are an arm of the gov't - it sends a clear message to a lot people maybe not you but a lot of people I won't repeat it the message here but maybe you will figure it out before it impacts on you. Or maybe not.


If our legal system wasn't so money-dependent maybe I wouldn't be so pissed. But it is. Only those with money can get a semblance of justice. Believe me, I know.

Allow me to give you a fabricated scenario of why this behavoir has un-american implications.

By the police doing this "sting" they risk a scenario like the following.


Patron #21 is arrested that night. He is a single, working dad. He hired a babysitter that night. It's a Friday so he goes out and drinks. The cops spying on him think he has had too much. As he exits the bar he is arrested. On the way to the station they find out he has two parking tickets and a speeding ticket unpaid for. He is arrested and booked. Now he is in jail all weekend. Bail or no bail -there is no way for him to get out because there is no one to pay his bail. The babysitter has to go home. What happens to his son? Maybe she calls Family services. Maybe the judge doesn't set bail in little ole Irving Texas until Monday. Maybe the guy can't raise the bail until Tuesday or Wednesday. So he sits in Jail for 3 or 4 days. Now he is fired from his job. His son has been in the care of strangers for days and his missed school. And on and on. Think this is extreme or that I am making it up? Think again, I speak from personal experience.



If patron#21 is fined and he can't afford it or pay it timely he will stay in jail until he can pay it or the judge thinks he has done enough time. Meanwhile, patron #21's bills pile up. Happens ALL the time.

All this because of a crackdown on public intoxication.


Patently unamerican.

I am surprised that you have never heard of unamerican police officer activity. LoL, that must be some underground shelter you live in.

I am not "too anxious" to hear how deep your ignorance goes. But it will be funny to see what the next "non-big" deal I point out and you dismiss will be.



It's like this - gov't wants to "Parent" it's citizens when the truth is gov't is the child that needs to be parented over, watched and disciplined. People like you, GB, seem to think that parenting over our government is laughable a bad idea, a joke and should be debased and dismissed.

An informed and active citizenry is the ONLY way to maintian the semblance of a democracy. Anything less is going to be only a short lived luxury. I love my country enough to see it's flaws and address them with a tough but fair approach.

If you love your child enough to be tough with them when you need to you will be a better parent and have a happier child. If you are too permissive with a child it ALWAYS ends in problems. Same goes for governments. Everytime.


I'm not the governments bitch - they are my bitch. They all work for us. Not the other way around. When the get out of line someone has to smack them back into place. If not you eventually have a young child ruling the roost.

[Sammie]

ha!

you just got served! :p

[Thunder]

Can we get a news story of everyday cops doing the right thing? Arresting the crooks who are breaking the law and generally being a menace. Or how about how some FBI agent who stopped a plot to blow up a bus in Richmond. (hypothetically speaking of course) Maybe if we showed the good with the bad more folks would be encouraged to vote. There are probably millions of untold acts everyday that go un-rewarded because the one or two or 10 bad cops/politicians/mayors/CEOs/journalists overshadow them.

30, you should start running for office or something. At least then all your ranting can be put to good use. Dr Martin Luther the 30 FTW!

[3043]

Thunder I will take that as mostly a compliment. The problem is that 95% of the people who seek power are exactly the type of people who should NEVER have power entrusted to them. This applies whether they are teachers, cops or politicians.


I desire dominion over no man and have no time in this life to sit on a committee of the mediocre.


However, I have given serious thought on how to change my country for the better. It has given a lot to me and my family. I owe it something and so, for now, I rant. What the next step is I haven't decided but I have a plan brewing and it doesn't involve politics directly...



As far as some good cop stories - I agree we should find some. I don't know his name but a cop in the next town over did the ole heroics this winter and charged into a buring building to save a woman and her child. Total hero. Totally awesome.

That's all I have on the top of my head but I'm sure I can come up with more.


BUT

My issue with cops is, well, especailly since with my brush with the legal system a few years ago, complex.


What some cops do while wearing the uniform makes them heroes ... and what other cops do, on-duty and off, reveals them as thugs. I think most cops prolly just do their job and go home. Being a doctor or a nurse can be heroic but most of us just do our job and go home too.

My problem with the cops is that they are very nearly worshipped in our society. On endless TV shows, in movies, police procedural novels, in the newspapers and on the nightly news, police are usually presented as virtue personified -- as if it's heroic to button up a blue shirt and pin on a badge.

But it's not.


If you want to be told that the policeman is your friend, that cops are the good guys and robbers are the bad guys, you'll find such reassurance on every 'news network,' in every newscast around the clock, and in every cop show from Dragnet to NYPD Blue. But not from me.


In my opinion, All cops are not heroes.

But because of the myth that "all cops are heroes," there's minimal call for disciplining bad cops, and maximal call for "forgiving," and "understanding" the tough work of being a cop.

And that's despicable. And terrifying.

Police work is tough. It's among the most difficult jobs in the world. And turning a blind eye toward police misconduct -- allowing crooked, corrupt, outright criminal cops to have long careers in law enforcement -- only makes it more difficult and dangerous for the good cops.

Letting cops get away with crime or "punishing" police misconduct with long, leisurely paid suspensions or probation or sweet deals that allow a policeman's own police record to be expunged or any of the other special treatments cops typically receive when they're accused of wrongdoing is assinine, counterproductive and undermines every good cop out there busting their ass.

I'd like to see good cops get a raise, and bad cops held accountable for their crimes. In fact, I'd like to see good cops get paid so much that bribery would be a moot idea.

Any other policy is an invitation to savages and brutes -- to button up a blue shirt, pin on a badge, and break the law with impunity. But in the interest of Fair and Balance-ness I will look for some heroic cop stuff.

[Thunder]

However, I have given serious thought on how to change my country for the better. It has given a lot to me and my family. I owe it something and so, for now, I rant. What the next step is I haven't decided but I have a plan brewing and it doesn't involve politics directly...

VIVA LA REVOLUTION!

[MiddleFinger]

Can we get a news story of everyday cops doing the right thing?

It's an obsession with people that thrive on making everything around them look bad, but for those of us who DO Like to submit "positive" news, here is a video of an Officer of the law rescueing a victim from a burning vehicle...

Good Cop (http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=1758610)

*edit: It's in Texas as well.

[psychonaut13]

considering that texas is one of the few states in which it is STILL LEGAL to have open containers of alcohol in a vehicle so long as the driver hasn't had a drop to drink...it's just weird man....

[Sammie]

Personally i think pointing out the good all the time is just flowery feel good bullshit.
I thought that's what "liberals" were labeled for doing.
But my experience lately has been "conservatives" really pushing for pointing out the feel good stories all the time.
And then attacking anyone who calls out problems as a whiner.

Calling out bullshit is a lot more fruitful for improving society as a whole than focusing on the positive spin all the time.
Its benefical to rock the boat.
Granted its benefical to show positive aspects as well
but in my opinion its much more important to point out things that you
find to be detrimental or negative.

You have to point things out to define a problem and you have to bitch about it to show what problems need to be resolved.
It is only after you have successfully completed the above that any type of resolution can even begin to be dicussed.

The discussion always ends in some unclimactic stale-mate of "stop your bitching or do something", but nothing can be accomplished from that.

Everyone has to agree that there is a problem and then people do things together. you have to connect with people instead of labeling them or plugging your ears b/c you dont want to hear things that are "negative" all the time.
Sure a feel good story is nice from time to time but like I said I dont need to be stroked like that.
There are serious issues with our global society.
Most people are even having children, yet they still refuse to address problems or question the authority that has led us into some undesirable circumstances. Not just our powers that be but power and authority in general, world wide.


Its amazing the social norms we have been taught so well.
The cliches, the labels, the self imposed limits we create that prevent
any real discussions from ever occurring.

Its a very effective tool that prevents authority from ever being questioned in a scale that would actually pose as a threat.

Some people want blankets and leaders

Some people dont like to follow and would rather look into the abyss with both eyes wide open