# Controversial encounters between law-enforcement and civilians - the omnibus thread **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 10, 2014, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942 "2014-10-10T07:35:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 755
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2019, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15083 "2019-09-06T00:01:37Z")
[Female inmate beaten ‘within an inch of death’ by Florida prison guards: lawsuit](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/female-inmate-beaten-within-an-inch-of-death-by-florida-prison-guards-lawsuit/ar-AAGQUof) > [@](#): > > A female inmate who requested medical assistance inside a facility near Orlando was instead beaten “within an inch of death” by male guards, a lawsuit filed this week alleges, in what her attorney is describing to Fox News as the “worst case of prison abuse in Florida I’ve ever seen.” > [@](#): > > “One or more of the John Doe Defendants slammed Plaintiff Cheryl Weimar to the ground” and “while down, they brutally beat her with blows to her head, neck, and back,” it continues. “At least one John Doe Defendant elbowed Plaintiff Cheryl Weimar in the back of her neck, causing her to suffer a broken neck.” > [@](#): > > The lawsuit says Weimar is now a quadriplegic who has to breathe and be fed through tubes ---
**Author:** ![UCBearcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/77aa72/32.png) [@UCBearcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UCBearcats)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2019, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15084 "2019-09-06T01:00:18Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > [Female inmate beaten ‘within an inch of death’ by Florida prison guards: lawsuit](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/female-inmate-beaten-within-an-inch-of-death-by-florida-prison-guards-lawsuit/ar-AAGQUof) When this is proven true, these fucksticks need to face a similar fate. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2019, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15085 "2019-09-06T01:11:11Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > Wait a moment. Didn’t they plead to a felony? That makes them ineligible (I hope) to be coppers ever again anywhere in the country, doesn’t it? Let’s go to the quarry and throw stuff down there! Nope. You must have missed this a few months ago: [The Village Where Every Cop Has Been Convicted of Domestic Violence](https://www.propublica.org/article/stebbins-alaska-cops-criminal-records-domestic-violence) > [@](#): > > Dozens of convicted criminals have been hired as cops in Alaska communities. Often, they are the only applicants. In Stebbins, every cop has a criminal record, including the chief. > [@](#): > > When Nimeron Mike applied to be a city police officer here last New Year’s Eve, he didn’t really expect to get the job. > > Mike was a registered sex offender and had served six years behind bars in Alaska jails and prisons. He’d been convicted of assault, domestic violence, vehicle theft, groping a woman, hindering prosecution, reckless driving, drunken driving and choking a woman unconscious in an attempted sexual assault. Among other crimes. > > “My record, I thought I had no chance of being a cop,” Mike, 43, said on a recent weekday evening, standing at his doorway in this Bering Strait village of 646 people. > > He was wrong. > > On the same day Mike filled out the application, the city of Stebbins hired him, handing him a policeman’s cellphone to answer calls for help. > > Get Our Top Investigations > Subscribe to the Big Story newsletter. > > This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. > “Am I a cop now?” he remembers thinking. “It’s like, that easy?” > > The short answer is yes. With low pay and few people wanting the jobs, it is that easy in some small Alaska communities for a convicted felon, even someone who has admitted to a sex crime or who was recently released from prison, to be hired with public money to work as a city police officer. > > It’s also a violation of state public safety regulations, yet it happens all the time. Or [this story from 2016](https://www.denverpost.com/2016/01/22/colorado-grants-waivers-to-police-applicants-with-criminal-backgrounds/): > [@](#): > > Scott Martin could not be a police officer in Texas, but his felony burglary guilty pleas were no obstacle to certification for law enforcement work in Colorado. > [@](#): > > Martin is one of 39 applicants with criminal backgrounds who received exemptions allowing them to seek, receive or extend certification in Colorado in the past five years. The Denver Post, which has published a series of articles on police officers certified and hired in Colorado despite troubled pasts, sought records from the state for all applicants who applied for exemptions since 2010. > > There were 192 applicants, of whom 170 obtained exemptions. Many were seeking extensions to their certifications, which were expiring because of extended lapses in employment at police agencies. Officers seeking to transfer from an agency in another state also often were granted exemptions from work history requirements. Or [this comprehensive USA Today article from April of this year](https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Pe4Wv-QKVisJ:https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/investigations/2019/04/24/police-officers-police-chiefs-sheriffs-misconduct-criminal-records-database/2214279002/+&cd=20&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=safari): > [@](#): > > The USA TODAY Network identified 32 people who became police chiefs or sheriffs despite a finding of serious misconduct, usually at another department. At least eight of them were found guilty of a crime. Others amassed records of domestic violence, improperly withholding evidence, falsifying records or other conduct that could impact the public they swore to serve. ---
**Author:** ![UCBearcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/77aa72/32.png) [@UCBearcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UCBearcats)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2019, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15086 "2019-09-06T01:14:29Z")
[quote=“Snowboarder\_Bo, post:15085, topic:700942”] Let’s go to the quarry and throw stuff down there! Nope. You must have missed this a few months ago: [The Village Where Every Cop Has Been Convicted of Domestic Violence](https://www.propublica.org/article/stebbins-alaska-cops-criminal-records-domestic-violence)Or [this story from 2016](https://www.denverpost.com/2016/01/22/colorado-grants-waivers-to-police-applicants-with-criminal-backgrounds/):Or [this comprehensive USA Today article from April of this year](https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:Pe4Wv-QKVisJ:https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/investigations/2019/04/24/police-officers-police-chiefs-sheriffs-misconduct-criminal-records-database/2214279002/+&cd=20&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=safari):[/QUOTE So even in the rare chance that the scum get busted, they get a second chance. WTF?!? ---
**Author:** ![Taesahnim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/taesahnim/32/84_2.png) [@Taesahnim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taesahnim)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2019, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15087 "2019-09-06T01:52:18Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > It’s official. Cops are fundamentally bad people. Wow. Painting with a wide brush there, aren’t you? I know quite a few cops. They are great people. But with any group of people, you can put them on a bell curve and some will wind up on the left end. Those are the ones that absolutely screw things up for the others. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2019, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15088 "2019-09-06T01:57:15Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > [Female inmate beaten ‘within an inch of death’ by Florida prison guards: lawsuit](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/female-inmate-beaten-within-an-inch-of-death-by-florida-prison-guards-lawsuit/ar-AAGQUof) I don’t understand this. Are there some exceptions in the “assault” laws for prison guards or what? ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2019, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15089 "2019-09-06T01:58:48Z")
> [@Taesahnim](#): > > Wow. Painting with a wide brush there, aren’t you? > > I know quite a few cops. They are great people. But with any group of people, you can put them on a bell curve and some will wind up on the left end. Those are the ones that absolutely screw things up for the others. Can you link to where these “great people” have public denounced the behavior of those that screw things up for the others? ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2019, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15090 "2019-09-06T02:02:21Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > Can you link to where these “great people” have public denounced the behavior of those that screw things up for the others? So the cops are all Muslims now? ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2019, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15091 "2019-09-06T02:05:22Z")
> [@Taesahnim](#): > > Wow. Painting with a wide brush there, aren’t you? > > I know quite a few cops. They are great people. But what do you mean when you say this? Are they good people to have a BBQ and a beer with? Are they good shortstops and outfielders on your softball league? I’m sure that, for just about every bullying and malicious and brutal and criminal cop in this thread, I could find any number of friends and family who would say that they are “great people.” I’m sure that the NYPD cop who choked Eric Garner to death is considered “great people” by a whole lot of his neighbors. Have you been on patrol with these friends of yours? Have you watched them deal with belligerent suspects, or prosecute a search warrant, or arrest a drug suspect? Have you seen how they treat the public in the day-to-day back and forth of being a cop? Have you heard how they talk when there are only other cops around? My stepfather was a cop for almost 30 years. My mother’s last job before she retired was as a civilian administrative worker in a police department. Half the guests at their wedding were cops, and they were all fun and friendly and apparently decent people. I’m not saying that your friends _ **aren’t** _ great people, and they might well be excellent cops. I think my stepfather was a good guy (he’s dead now), and I get the sense that he was serious about doing the job in a professional manner, but honestly, I really don’t know how any of them acted on the job. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2019, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15092 "2019-09-06T02:13:08Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > So the cops are all Muslims now? What? ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2019, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15093 "2019-09-06T03:35:59Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > What? I assume it is a riff on “Why don’t Muslim’s loudly denounce every act of Islamic terrorism” question that comes up every time someone says “not all Muslims”. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2019, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15094 "2019-09-06T04:30:29Z")
**Folacin** got it in one. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2019, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15095 "2019-09-06T18:34:05Z")
[Jury selection for the woman who killed Botham Jean for sitting in his own Dallas apartment started today](https://apnews.com/608259f80d05458caabe788ad2979b3e). > [@](#): > > The jury selection process began Friday, which is the one-year anniversary of Jean’s death. The goal is to finalize a panel by Sept. 13. Testimony is scheduled to begin Sept. 23. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2019, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15096 "2019-09-06T18:56:32Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > I assume it is a riff on “Why don’t Muslim’s loudly denounce every act of Islamic terrorism” question that comes up every time someone says “not all Muslims”. But Muslims DO in fact denounce acts of Islamic terrorism. How many cops denounce acts of police brutality? ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2019, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15097 "2019-09-06T19:00:53Z")
Vanishingly few, unless a trial has already convicted someone. And then it’s just “a few”. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2019, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15098 "2019-09-06T19:52:20Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Vanishingly few, unless a trial has already convicted someone. And then it’s just “a few”. Right. Since all the stories and videos and testimony are only about a few “bad apples”, there should be overwhelming outcry from all the great cops reassuring us that those “bad apples” don’t represent what the “good” police stand for. I don’t see it. ---
**Author:** ![UCBearcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/77aa72/32.png) [@UCBearcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UCBearcats)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2019, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15099 "2019-09-06T23:13:43Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > Right. Since all the stories and videos and testimony are only about a few “bad apples”, there should be overwhelming outcry from all the great cops reassuring us that those “bad apples” don’t represent what the “good” police stand for. > > I don’t see it. Blue protects Blue above all else. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2019, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15100 "2019-09-07T01:03:31Z")
> [@UCBearcats](#): > > Blue protects Blue above all else. I know that’s a popular saying, but in reality it’s horseshit. Yes, too many Blue do protect Blue, but it by no means is “above all else”. FTR, even one doing so is too many. There are cops who have been turned in by other cops and the former have been incarcerated. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2019, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15101 "2019-09-07T17:35:56Z")
SEP 6, 2019 ICE agents in civilian clothes approached three people in a van in Tennessee and demanded to see their IDs. Two of the men in the van complied, one did not, as is his right. One of the ICE agents shot him. > **[ICE Agent Opens Fire on Immigrants Outside a South Nashville Grocery Store -...](https://www.latinorebels.com/2019/09/06/iceagentopensfire/)** > > “This is unlike anything we have seen before. We have never seen an ICE agent use lethal force in a civil matter before,” said Anna Albescu, member of The MIX. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2019, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15102 "2019-09-07T17:45:37Z")
**Rick** , this is another one you got (slightly) wrong. No one was shot. The man was shot _at_ but we have no knowledge of whether or not the was hit, according to your link. I’m not trying to absolve the ICE agent who clearly should not be ANY kind of enforcement officer, just making sure the facts are clearly represented. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942.md?page=754) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942.md?page=756)