My Take on the Police Brutality Issues - Fight Forum - MMA - UFC - Boxing - K1

MTKrav911 · 03-23-2007, 02:18 PM

A lot of FF members have made some darn good threads about the recent media coverage of some "Off the Reservation" cops as we call them, taking their authority and abusing others. Whether while Under the Color of authority as we call it legally, or drunk assed at a bar.

Many know I'm a police officer for a teeney tiny town in the middle of nowhere's ville in east bay/central California.

I do not condone any of this garbage that's going on. I work for IAD, Internal Affairs Division for going on 2 years now and see police misconduct quite a bit. Given the jurisdiction we serve (Bascially a Mayberry type town), our Police misconduct can be summed up to issues like Patrol-Men having affairs with Soccer Moms on Maple street, to the occasional substance abusers to of course, complaints of excessive force.

Most of the time the complaints go unsubstantiated or at maxiumum, suspensions are handed out, and the officers usually improve their performcances overall.

It hurts me to see that so many officers end up down the dark path. A movie that always hit home with me before becoming a cop was the movie Unlawful Entry. While sensationalized, the movie is a decent example of just what can go wrong with the wrong officer mis-using his power. It can and does (as we've recently seen), happen. It IS NOT, representative though of the majority of cops.

I sincerely hope most of you do not let recent events by law enforcement make you afraid or unwilling to call when you need help or want to report something. Police everywhere (even in Mayberry) need the publics asstance to effect arrests or to include key pieces of evidence during our investigatory processes. DO NOT be afraid to tell on police officers whom you think may be abusing their authority. That's what they have guys like me for. I made detective fortunately at a very young age because depts in our area were being taken over by The FBI for gross and systematic police corruption and many of "the old timers" were weeded out and either locked up in federal prison or outright released. So the younger "uncorrupted" took over.

Sorry, a long thread I know. But to all of you out there effected or know someone hurt by police misconduct whether on a minor scale or overwhelmingly illegal misconduct such as the Chicago incident...

My heart goes out to all the victims of police miscondut.

Dirty Fighter · 03-23-2007, 05:33 PM

There have been lots of really good movies about police misconduct, one of my favorites being "The Big Easy". The problem is when you make a really good movie about corrupt cops, people tend to believe that the director was trying to put out a message against the establishment or that the writer was intending to bring some unknown great injustice to light. People need to realize that they are just movies and that if the police forces across the country were in the condition that Hollywood depicts, the world would be a lot scarier place.

duke09 · 03-23-2007, 05:49 PM

i have probably busted your balls about being a cop, but i dont really mean it.

i think that cops are essential to society and that 99.9% are really good people and good cops. i feel bad in that the minuscule proportion (hopefully) ruin it for the rest.

my take on cops is that because they are so high profile, any thing they do is put under public scrutiny (maybe for good reason), but we must not forget that all people are fallible and all people make mistakes and do stupid things. not to suggest that these things are acceptable, we just dont hear about many of the things that other people do because they arent cops.

krav, i have no doubt that you are an honourable man, and reflect what many cops are like. it is a pleasure to know ya.

MTKrav911 · 03-23-2007, 10:32 PM

I dont care anymore.

My mom just really pissed me off tonight, so I think I'm gonna live up to her expectations and start eating doughnuts and drinking more beer than I already do.

I'm not gonna run anymore and I'm gonna quit the kickboxing/BJJ school.

I'm gonna live up to my parents expectations and be a fat boy.

should be fun.

AikaImmortal · 03-26-2007, 04:54 PM

The thing is, cops are so high profile and in the public eye that when they do anything wrong it is an issue of public knowledge and trust. I remember around here we had a cop fired for napping on the job in his office and it was a huge uproar.. let me ask you guys this.. how many of YOU have slept at work and not gotten fired?

How about the fact that from the second you arrive on a call you know nothing about the suspect.. motives, possession of weapons, influence of drugs or alcohol.. you have to approach things HARD while being polite. Some things come off as sharp but the majority of officers do not intend that.

I have been on the line of 'do i want to keep working with mental health or do i want to go the next step' many a time, and sometimes public perception of the police force makes me talk myself out of it. That and the fact that I live in a small town with no internal affairs and high corrpution, the epitimy of 'good ole boy' system. The officers themselves for the most part have no say in this, just because something may be corrupt does not mean all parties involved are.. theres just nowhere to turn to.. got a few personal stories from guys I know who are force/ex-force about this if you wanna send me a PM man.

MTKrav911 · 03-26-2007, 05:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AikaImmortal

The thing is, cops are so high profile and in the public eye that when they do anything wrong it is an issue of public knowledge and trust. I remember around here we had a cop fired for napping on the job in his office and it was a huge uproar.. let me ask you guys this.. how many of YOU have slept at work and not gotten fired?

How about the fact that from the second you arrive on a call you know nothing about the suspect.. motives, possession of weapons, influence of drugs or alcohol.. you have to approach things HARD while being polite. Some things come off as sharp but the majority of officers do not intend that.

I have been on the line of 'do i want to keep working with mental health or do i want to go the next step' many a time, and sometimes public perception of the police force makes me talk myself out of it. That and the fact that I live in a small town with no internal affairs and high corrpution, the epitimy of 'good ole boy' system. The officers themselves for the most part have no say in this, just because something may be corrupt does not mean all parties involved are.. theres just nowhere to turn to.. got a few personal stories from guys I know who are force/ex-force about this if you wanna send me a PM man.

I can imagine a lot of the personal stories are things I've run into Aika.

But I feel ya. It's unfortunate that some smaller jurisdictions can't fund an IAD (Internal Affairs Division). Actually our dept had to be federally mandated to do so because of all the corruption in the past. When nobody's looking, lots happen.

But not anymore since Krav and company are on the case. I work with a bunch of really really good IAD degs (detectives). I wish every dept had to have a mandated IAD division. Even though we're considered the scum of the earth!

AikaImmortal · 03-26-2007, 05:29 PM

Hell, I've been called worse. One tripped out lady said I was a reincarnation of pol-pot and the state hospital was really a concentration camp.

MTKrav911 · 03-26-2007, 05:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AikaImmortal

Hell, I've been called worse. One tripped out lady said I was a reincarnation of pol-pot and the state hospital was really a concentration camp.

You're like a Psychiatric Technician right Aika?

God Bless You son!

Automatic Entry to Heaven for you my dear!

AikaImmortal · 03-26-2007, 07:39 PM

I am one of the few men who works at my facility so I am pretty much the guy they call to help restrain from time to time, more times than not just to stand arms crossed at the doors and intimidate anyone who thinks of lashing out at the girls.

Technically, I am a computer tech/medicaid auditor but I do that maybe 2 days a week.

If the state knew.. id be jobless

sitnspin · 03-26-2007, 08:02 PM

MTKrav, good on you, man. I honestly expected this thread to be a cop taking the side of those officers regardless of the circumstances, and giving us some line about how police brutality is just what the troublemakers call it when they don't do what they're told, etc.

Once again, you've impressed me.

Now stop all this talk about resigning yourself to getting fat, and give me twenty-five burpees.

MTKrav911 · 03-26-2007, 09:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sitnspin

MTKrav, good on you, man. I honestly expected this thread to be a cop taking the side of those officers regardless of the circumstances, and giving us some line about how police brutality is just what the troublemakers call it when they don't do what they're told, etc.

Once again, you've impressed me.

Now stop all this talk about resigning yourself to getting fat, and give me twenty-five burpees.

I'm not gonna get fat. It's just that night the way my mother (as usual) knows how to get under my skin.

Believe me, I'm very secure in my appearance, and am by all standards a rather fit person (and all of you trust me would laugh if you saw me in person). But when someone (like your mom) says what she said, it kinda puts you in that place. That negative place.

My wife (God Bless her) knew it cause I was so flamin pissed after my mom left, I downed like two hot-pockets and half a subway sandwhich............

Then the next day (meaning yesterday, ran 2 miles in the morning for 300 cals, then 4 miles in the evening for 500 cals)..... So, I did alright. As usual, and that's not including my lifting.

Sorry, I just went through a lot of abuse issues as a kid and so I'll always think I'm fat even if Im the skinniest SOB on the planet!

And my parents know this and rub it in every few months or so.

Oh, sorry, fitness always is a soft spot for me...

The cop issue?

I will never defend what is so blatantly obvious. As I've said before, I'm a cop in a rather uneventful dept, but even here we have several officers that come up with complaints we have to investigate. And Sometimes they're serious complaints.

If we had a video of some officer pummelling a bartender like in that Chicago incident?

HAHAHAHAHA.........

Sorry, Officer John Doe, Please hand over your gun, your badge, your ID, oh, and I forgot, please turn around I'm going to arrest you for violation of PC 415 assault and also I'm going to charge you with acting under the color of authority if in fact the video captures audio that you said you were a cop during the assault.