Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/04/15/why-did-a-maine-cop-lie-about-dropping-a-missing-person-off-at-a-hospital.html
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A rural Maine town with 4 reported crimes a year doesn’t need a police department […] Just give the city manager a truncheon or something.
A rural Maine town with 4 reported fires a year doesn’t need a fire department, just give the city manager a garden hose or something.
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At this point, the shocker is when cops are telling the truth.
Habitual lairs lie even when they don’t NEED to.
To the point they don’t realize it anymore.
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A Florida police officer similarly decided to take matters into his own hands and start “disappearing” (murdering) the very people he was sworn to protect. I find it odd that Canada’s population is about 1/10th that of the USA but our police commit 1/100th the amount of crimes yours do.
I’m spitballing that statistic, but you get my gist.
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Firefighters seldom make the problem worse, cops almost always.
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It would probably be a volunteer fire department at that point.
And, of course, reports of fires are usually while they are happening and fire fighters go put them out, while reports of crimes are after the fact and police usually just file a report.
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I did contemplate the possibility that the police were forbidden from getting people medical help and have to lie about it, before I clicked through.
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Wait, so when did the cop “report” that he took the missing man to a convenience store, and when did he claim it happened? Did he make the claim before or after claiming he took him to the hospital? Was the trip supposed to have occurred before or after the man was reported missing? Because this is all weird, no matter how the timing shakes out. And I’m not sure which version is weirder - that the cop claimed he took a random (not yet missing) dude to a convenience store, or that he found a reported missing person… and dropped him off at a store? Did he only make the “report” after his hospital claim fell apart, or after the man was reported missing, to cover his tracks?
I think it’s pretty clear the cop did something to the guy - my question is whether he did it before or after the guy was reported missing. I’m guessing before - the cop didn’t know attention was going to be paid to his victim, assuming he was some homeless person that no one would miss.
Yeah, exactly. You wouldn’t have a professional fire department under those circumstances.
If we had fire departments that acted like police departments do (showing up after a fire to take a report - or not), we’d get rid of fire departments.
That does sound like a plausible, very American sort of dysfunction, but the opposite is true - the cops just prefer to abuse someone having a medical emergency than get them help.
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Lots of small towns don’t have their own police departments. They rely on the county sheriff, typically. Despite what conservatives would have us believe, we have too many law enforcement officers in this country. Or, at the very least, they are poorly distributed. The Uvalde school district had (has?) its own police department. Not the town of Uvalde. The school district. That’s insane. A town with only 4 crimes a year doesn’t need its own police department. It needs to rely on its county sheriff. That’s what they’re for.
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There’s a Dril tweet for this.
Also, a rural Maine town with 4 reported fires a year doesn’t really need a professional fire department. It needs a fire engine and a few volunteers.
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