Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2015/09/12/nypd-cop-who-beat-up-tennis-st.html
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I suggest we do some racial profiling research and see how many NYPD officers have a long list of complaints of brutality who also have Italian last names and see what we come up with.
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I wholeheartedly support unions for standing up for their members, for negotiating for benefits and better pay, for defending their unjustly accused members. But I wholeheartedly reject the idea that unions must defend the indefensible and illegal actions of their members.
If unions want to keep the support of the public, they must be on the side of protecting the public from the failures of their members. They must move decisively to purge members who violate the law and thus the terms of their union membership. Unions doom themselves when they don’t act honestly, and just become another protection racket for illegality and civil rights violations.
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Holy hell. I can make one joke and get fired. This guy has at least 4 documented assaults and he still gets to keep his job? How many times could I hit someone at my job and not get arrested and fired?
IIRC, isn’t NYC also where a cop with a lot of time on the job makes like $100K?
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Yeah. The cops complain about their bad reputation but defend guys like this that give them the bad reputation.
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There’s a perfect opportunity to soccer kick his head off his shoulders for quite a few seconds in that clip. The police-brutality workshop must have had their budget constrained.
Which I’m only pointing out because, y’know, it’s dangerous to leave yourself vulnerable like that.
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He has a long, violent rap sheet, and is still employed. So, you mean he’s an NYPD cop. /sarcasm #forrealthough
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How did the witness come to be in a position to point out a supposed suspect? When I think of credit card fraud I think of spooky action at a distance, not usually something up close and personal. Was he cruising down the boulevard then holy hell, the guy was just there leaning against a pillar right in front of him? Was he watching sports commentary on TV about the U.S. Open, then jeez, that’s the guy, right there? Does this involve facial recognition software? Probably the police had a drawing from the victim, saw Mr. Blake and either matched him to the drawing or took a picture and showed it to the victim who said “that’s him”, but there’s a gap in the story here at least in what I’ve read.
“The police say an eye witness had identified him as a suspect in a fraudulent mobile phone racket.”
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I’m quite confident that the department sincerely regrets the mistaken arrest of a black person… that white folk might actually listen to!
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He has a long, violent rap sheet
Rap sheet? I think they call it a Resume.
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Fucking cameras… how do they work?
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“He bit me on the fist!” I love that one. Did he also attempt to cruelly crush your toes with the side of his head, or viciously smother your knee with his stomach?
Man, my own mother didn’t believe me when I made similar excuses as a kid.
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An understandable idea, but (1) like many organizations, unions are supposed to support all their members, not just the popular ones (even if the unpopular are unpopular for a very good reason) and (2) I’d assume that the union also has a duty to assume that all charges against its members are “unjust” until proven otherwise in a court of law.
It’s obviously enraging when we see organizations protecting those we consider evil, but when claiming that an organization should be given discretion as to which dues-paying members it chooses to protect, it’s useful to consider how that discretion would be wielded when it ends up being controlled by those you abhor.
Unpleasant though it might be, like lawyers, it’s probably best that we do not condemn their willingness to defend even those we disapprove of.
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We aren’t talking about popularity here. We’re talking about a pattern of illegal and abusive behavior.
If the union can’t understand that providing cover for the bad cops who destroy their credibility and usefulness is wrong, then they deserve to lose the support of the public who pay ALL their salaries. Unions, who are having a very difficult time surviving at all, will lose even more ground, and become even more distrusted, to the detriment of their honest and deserving members.
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I think the cop did an admirable job … compared to his colleagues we have recently seen in US media.
At least the suspect is (still) alive!
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Well, this is unsurprising news, really. He got away with it all the previous times, so he’s going to keep doing it.
So, you mean he’s an American cop. There, fixed that for you. (Ok, there are a few towns where this might not be the case, but they’re rare exceptions, unfortunately.)
They did have a photograph. Although the further question that needs to be asked is why they thought he was involved in the fraud as apparently they finally caught up with him and eliminated him as a suspect. So it’s face-palms all around.
Sure, so they should do that - provide him with his legal advice/representative and everything else entailed by that role. What they shouldn’t do is go out and try to publicly justify the inexcusable. Had he been accused of being a cannibal murderer would they have started publicly talking about how murder was perfectly fine and how commendable his jaw strength was that he was able to gnaw a guy’s face off? Clearly not. They’ve put themselves in the position of saying, “This is behavior that, as police officers, we consider normal and acceptable.” That’s not a good message, whether they believe in it or not.
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If y’all recall from a while back… These types of incidents involving the rich, powerful and famous are the RIGHT people for this to be happening to. Unfortunately for them but fortunately for us because they draw much more attention to the atrocities and evoke change at a more accelerated rate.
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Has he actually been convicted of any of this? I mean it’s pretty clear to me that he’s a nasty piece of work, but I wouldn’t want my opinion to be mistaken for a legal verdict.
And yes, the unions would be more popular by leaving certain members out to dry, but members keep electing unions executives that commit to protecting all their members, rather than just the ones the executive approve of.
And given the general populace, the odds are high that in many places, the union could boost its popularity by failing to protect other “odious” members like gays, women, and basically anyone I’d happen to respect. It’s always dangerous to assume that what you or I consider “obvious” morality is shared by the majority.
NYPD officers start at $44K and top out at ~90K (before overtime) after seven years. I think they get bonus pay if they manage to get assigned to special details (bomb squad, SWAT, horseback, boats, computers, etc.) but I’m not 100% sure. And of course promotions in rank come with higher pay grades.
It might be a decent job for someone who didn’t go to college, but it’s really not a lot of money to live on in NYC. In comparison, SFPD’s patrolman salary range is $81,380 - $113,282, also over seven years. Oakland and San Jose are comparable.
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[quote=“L_Mariachi, post:19, topic:65537”]
It might be a decent job for someone who didn’t go to college, but it’s really not a lot of money to live on in NYC.[/quote]
Most of the cops don’t live in the city, they’re out in Suffolk County Long Island or down the Jersey shore. Some live on Staten Island, which is basically Jersey with 1/5 the property tax and a free ferry to Manhattan instead of a $14 toll.
