Um no. Bribing is just as illegal as being bribed.
Also - multiple sheriff’s offices. I don’t know much about America but given the high profile lawbreaking, paedophile, anti-life hate machines out there elected as sheriffs I’d take issue with describing them simply as government officials. They are their own thing there and frequently at odds with the government, or at least the law.
Plus, of course, if only ex-cops can get a concealed carry permit, then that means only ex-cops can get work as armed bodyguards…
Weird thing here- the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act makes a distinction between bribes (payments to get an official to do something they shouldn’t) and “grease payments” (where an official refuses to do their job unless you pay them)- bribes are illegal, grease payments are legal.
The argument could be made that paying for a CCW permit in San Jose County is a grease payment. Of course, that is the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which doesn’t cover American Corrupt Practices…
And ADAs. I remember attending an auction where the security was being run by a dude open carrying wearing a badge that said he was a district attorney from some rural California county. This was several decades ago, but I didn’t know that district attorneys had badges or carried guns… Or worked side gigs doing security :-/ (And maybe they don’t? Except if they are from rural counties? Dunno.)
Same energy.
I knew Elvis got narc badge… who are the others? Real narcs or did he get his whole crew badged up?
I have no problem with the head of security getting charged in this case, but c’mon—of course we should hold those sworn to enforce and uphold the law to a higher standard than everyone else. When the people in authority are part of a bribery scheme it’s hard for anyone who isn’t willing to pay a bribe to go about their business.
I once technically paid a small bribe to some border guards to enter Guatemala on vacation. Not because I had any nefarious intent, but because it was basically an institutionalized part of the ritual for getting into the country and EVERYONE at that border crossing effectively faced the choice of paying the bribe or not getting in. The process had been so formalized that my guide book told me exactly how much I should expect to pay during the transaction, and if I hadn’t known better I might not have realized the “fee” was a bribe at all.
When the cops have no respect for the law then neither will anyone else.
This is what happens when you make permitting process a “may issue” process which inevitably becomes pay to play. Similarly, victims of violent crime in LA County can’t get reliably concealed carry permits but famous people and rich people who have their own private security can (especially if they contribute the Sheriff’s reelection campaign).
“Simple point-and-click interface.”
Apple’s head of global security tried to bung cops hundreds of free iPads in exchange for special gun permits, it is claimed.
Thomas Moyer, 50, was last week charged [PDF] with bribing senior officers in Santa Clara county, home to Apple’s Cupertino headquarters.
If you don’t catch the problem early enough it can become entrenched beyond the means of the justice system to cope with it; and it either just carries merrily along indefinitely or people have to resort to some sort of truth-and-reconcilation-and-mostly-impunity process; but we are currently talking about 3 defendants; probably a few more who haven’t had their rocks turned over yet.
The question of whether the buyer or the bought is more guilty is potentially of abstract interest; but it’s something that one ought not to get distracted by when the capacity exists to drop the hammer on everyone involved. Punishment isn’t an infinite resource; but the effects of scarcity are wiggling around asymptotically near zero in this case.
Because the authors didn’t believe grease payments were needed in the US. When dealing with the government they often are–usually in a legal fashion but sometimes not.
I vaguely recognize a few faces from his regular late-stage entourage. That sheriff badge let the King skip the bag screening at airports, along with any awkward questions that might result. It was the late 60s, so uh they’re probably gonna need one for everyone.
could be much worse.
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
