Can the postal workers forge an alliance with the bank tellers?
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Or maybe there’s a union for network administrators?
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Pretty much. It’s really disingenuous to try apportioning blame for this kind of abusive, unhinged “public service” at the Bush administration’s doorstep. It’s got more to do with unchecked, unaccountable federal power, seeping down to all levels of government. It’s certainly been enabled by our (bipartisan) wars on drugs/terror.
See how our current administration has taken liberties to indulge in extrajudicial drone killings, violation of transparency laws, repeated abuse of the 4th Amendment, and so on and so on and so on.
If the commander in chief of BOTH parties ignores the laws and rights of our nation, you think the cops give a damn about following the law?
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While I agree with your criticism of the Federal government, I don’t think local police abusing their power stems from that. There is a long history in this country of abusive, corrupt police, far predating the war on terror.
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Fair point.
It certainly made it worse, though. PDs milked the wars on drugs/terror to justify purchasing crazy military weapons and violating civil liberties at a record pace. Then, inevitably those weapons get used on the people they’re supposedly sworn to protect. Or we find out that cops are using the “crimestopping” databases to stalk or retaliate against people.
It’s always about protecting people, (or cops specifically) against the crazed lunatics that usually turn out to be fictional boogeymen. At least back then, you only had to worry about getting shot 6 times per cop. Now they show up with drones, tanks, infantry rifles, battle gear, etc.
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This kind of personal abuse by the police pre-dates both the Wars on Terror/Drugs. The war on drugs gave the police a more militarized set of interactions with certain populations, and the war on terror allowed them to justify various systematic, large-scale violations of civil liberties (some of which had only just been won back from police abuse in recent decades). Getting roughed up/falsely arrested at the whim of police, especially if one is part of a vulnerable class of people? That goes back to the 19th century at least.
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Specifically, these guys.
And I quote:
To assist in carrying out its responsibilities, the Postal Inspection Service maintains a Police Force staffed by approximately 500 uniformed Postal Police Officers who are assigned to critical postal facilities throughout the country. The officers provide perimeter security, escort high-value mail shipments, and perform other essential protective functions. These uniformed officers provide a visible deterrent at postal facilities located primarily in urban high-crime areas and respond to emergencies including disturbances, assaults, theft, robberies and other incidents threatening the safety of postal employees and customers. They make arrests for crimes committed against the United States Postal Service and felonies committed in their presence. These employees are required to qualify with agency-issued shotguns and their assigned sidearms and are designated as police officers under Title 18, Part 2, Section 3061(c).
All of which sounds completely applicable.
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What happened to turn cops into such thin-skinned pussies?
I’m not suggesting that cops were, at one time, reasonable psychologically sturdy folk. Maybe they’ve always been this way and the proliferation of video devices is simply catching long-term, regular behaviors.
Nevertheless, its well past time to jail these entitled pussies and confiscate their pensions.
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Things That Frighten Police (updated 3/25/2016)
Blinking LEDs
Cameras
Black/Brown adults and children
Direct eye contact
Breasts
Lyft
Peaceful protests
Halloween
Lesbians
Imaginary Black/Brown people
Puppies
Turtles
Rap Battles
Free Speech
Mail Carriers
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In a related story, the NYPD has updated their “CPR: Courtesy, Professionalism, Respect” slogan to better reflect their values.
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Are you going to fork your list to a new topic in Dizzy at some point? It’s been fun to watch it grow, but it would be even better to have a “go to” place for it.
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It should be its own topic, and wiki’d.
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That would be cool, but if @M_Dub wants to curate the list, I wouldn’t begrudge him of that.
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You keep forgetting motorcycles.
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They live in one of the few countries in the world where just about anybody (including five year old boys) could be carrying a concealed, loaded gun. Every interaction they have with the public can lead to a gun fight. US gun advocates even say that they need guns to hedge against an out of control government. Police enforce the law so guns in private hands are there to act against the police.
Of course they are scared.
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The fact that US society is as you say is by no means a secret, least if all to those who aspire to a career in uniformed overlording. Given that, your assertion invites even more scorn and punative responses toward the costumed thugs who hope a badge will mask the true personality stuffed into the uniform and role paid for by the very taxpayers these pussies choose to harrass, abuse & murder.
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Sure, the job currently attracts people who are spoiling for a fight. The question is how do you get from here to a situation where less violence prone people are attracted to the job. For a start you would have to make the job safer and for me that means reducing the number of guns in private hands.
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OK, but its not a zero-sum binary. While efforts to undo the mayhem the Roberts court unleashed with its 2007 gun ruling that demonstrated blatant disregard for stare decisis, local, state & Fed authorities can work toward restoring the public’s confidence in law enforcement by aggressively prosecuting and imprisoning racist, misogynist, violent criminals w/badges.
Cops must be held to a higher standard of conduct and behavior, not a more leniant one. Cops cannot be rewarded, even if only with a blind eye, when they indulge in illegal, immoral and/or other forms of bruttish authoritarianism.
Lastly, if the heat’s too hot, then the pussy police should vacate the kitchen (so to speak). No cop ant where in the US is an indentured servant.
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And here is a link to yet another common horrific practice cops indulge in…
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But as somebody up the page pointed out, the US contains too many small police forces, operating under the jurisdiction of too many small (usually local) government organisations. So its going to be difficult to consistently change police behavior.
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