I would guess as many active and retired cops who are minorities.
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Considering cops stopped their black chief of police in a Stop & Frisk incident probably not many
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For sure. I mean, how many times do you want to hear “Don’t you know who I AM?” These cards save time and energy. /s
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And gas, too!
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The actual number they should be allowed to have is 0
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I wonder how effective those cards would be for said people.
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Don’t these cards represent a de facto bribe? They seem to be intended to be used in that manner
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You could argue that, and you might be right.
The counter argument is “the cards represent that the holder knows a cop, and that cop says 'this is an Ok guy, so if they end up behaving badly, think about cutting him a break…and give me a call, I’ll tell him how badly he screwed up”…much like a formalized version of “hey, that guy is my brother, that one over there was the best man at my wedding, and…”
You could also argue that being a cop’s brother or the best man at a cop’s wedding shouldn’t get you a break, even on a minor traffic infraction.
I don’t have one of these cards (I didn’t know retired cops might be able to issue them, and I only know one active duty cop, but my relationship with him is we both play similar board games, sometimes against each other…I wouldn’t feel comfortable asking him for a favor based on that). I don’t really have a horse in this race. Maybe these cards are a bad idea. Maybe they are a formalization of “my brother’s on the job”, and therefore good/bad based on what you think of that idea. Maybe they were once a good idea, but have drifted their way into “bad”.
Back in the 1990s, I dated someone who worked at the PBA. I think a cop gave me one of these cards at a party I attended with her. I never had a use for it and it’s long gone from my slimmed-down wallet. I should really look for it, because if there’s no expiry date then it’s NYC crime spree here I come!
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I think they’re only good for the year indicated on the card.
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Yep. I think we seriously need to rethink how our police are structured and the power they wield.
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Given the purpose of the cards and their widespread, common use, one might argue that the whole deal is a conspiracy.
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If they didn’t work, why would they exist, by contract, in the first place? Why would the Police union get so “furious” when their number was reduced? The police themselves certainly attribute value to them.
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Because the thing their for. Is not neccisarily getting you out of legal trouble. The number of things an officer can simply ignore, barring rule breaking or illegality, is pretty damn limited. And more than that because there are so many of them, that most cops seem to ignore them entirely today. So much so that. As I noted. Police unions are issuing special cards that are less likely to be ignored. The NYPD sits at around 40,000 regular officers. Not counting auxillery, retired, and other people who might be union members. Each of them was getting 30 regular cards. Thats 1.2m cards in the mix. Minimum. Every year.
Does that sound like a practical way to pull of a wink and a knod? If one out of every 8 people in NYC, at a minimum its probably higher. Can be carrying one of these?
These guys are pissed because these little cards make them feel important. Or more accurately make their douche friends feel important. The number of people I’ve met who wander down the bar and pull these things out. And talk about how they know a cop, and they can get away with xyz. But then can’t even remember who gave it to them is absurd.
And you know. A bunch officers got in trouble. For selling them. These guys might be pissed about the lost income and benefits to be had from tossing them around. Effective or not some one apparently though they were worth $200.
ETA: Another quirk of these things. There’s a clause on the back that says basically “any member of any PBA can rescind this card at any time for any reason”. Its not uncommon for an officer to simply confiscate the cards depending on the situation.
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Unsurprising - just what you expect in a proper shithole country.
And how likely were they to be “honoured” if presented to a white cop by a black person?
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I’m almost positive these cards were used in a scam on an old episode of Dragnet. In that Friday and Gannon were going to ticket someone and the person getting the ticket tried to flash one of these cards in order to get out of it. Let’s see if I can find it… Ah yes, Dragnet 1967, Season 2 episode 13, The Phony Police Racket. I was a little wrong on the start, but the rest applies. Bad guys sell business owners ad space in the National Association for Law Enforcement magazine, and in return, they get a NALE card which allows them to get out of tickets. Oddly enough Joe Friday hates the very idea of these cards and they don’t exist in his LAPD and never would.
In this day and age of easy counterfeiting little plastic cards I’m stunned that the NYPD doesn’t have to deal with a swamp of fakes and people selling the fakes. Enough to make them cancel the program years ago.
Yes, yes you could. And that if a police officer did let someone off just because they knew their brother’s cousin’s wife, that the officer should be investigated, like in normal countries.
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Exactly what I thought. How can a labour union possibly give these things away? Why does a union set law enforcement policy, and how is special treatment for the law something you give away to your friends?
I have been thinking about this, because – if you had a police force that wasn’t problematic otherwise – I’m not sure it’s 100% terrible for the police to trade small favors with the public. Like, you help a pig with a flat tire, and maybe they subsequently let you off with a warning when they catch you jaywalking, since you’ve shown you’re on the side of law & order. That could be part of a healthy society where the police sometimes interact with the public outside of arresting them.
But then I was thinking, wait, do you have to hand this card back if you use it, or do you get special treatment for life? If you get to keep the card, that’s definitely wrong.
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