# 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:** 777
**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:** [October 31, 2019, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15523 "2019-10-31T14:36:11Z")
> [@UCBearcats](#): > > G4S spread security guards and guns around world. Then came violence > > [G4S spread security guards and guns around world. Then came violence](https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/investigations/2019/10/30/dangerous-guards-low-cost-security-g-4-s/3994676002/) > > Amazing that we pay people as low as $9.25 per hour and give them a gun. WTF?!? This is horrifying. > [@](#): > > An administrator at a G4S juvenile detention center in Florida discovered guards molesting kids, police said, and then hid it from state officials because she was worried about losing the contract. She should have to spend some time with these kids. Then spend some years in prison. > [@](#): > > Rios said "G4S had no way of knowing” that Mayo and other guards “would be capable of criminal acts.” She added that they all passed the company’s screening procedures. Except for the fact that they had committed criminal acts before, which is why they got fired from from police forces. If history teaches us anything, it’s that you have to fuck up really _really_ bad to be fired from a police force. ---
**Author:** ![UCBearcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/77aa72/32.png) [@UCBearcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UCBearcats)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2019, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15524 "2019-11-01T00:24:29Z")
Deputy indicted on assault charge after face-slapping incident > **[Deputy indicted on assault charge after face-slapping incident](https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Deputy-indicted-on-assault-charge-after-14572392.php?utm_campaign=CMS%20Sharing%20Tools%20%28Mobile%29&utm_source=share-by-email&utm_medium=email)** > > After a Harris County Sheriff’s Office deputy invited a man to slap him in the face,... ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15525 "2019-11-04T01:02:53Z")
> **[These Machines Can Put You in Jail. Don’t Trust Them. (Published 2019)](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/03/business/drunk-driving-breathalyzer.html)** > > Alcohol breath tests, a linchpin of the criminal justice system, are often unreliable, a Times investigation found. Shoddy science, bad procedures, faked calibrations, black box software, disabled safety features, and tens of thousands of questionable convictions. I mean, fuck drunk drivers, right? But make sure they’re actually intoxicated. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2019, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15526 "2019-11-04T14:53:01Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > I’ve never, nor will I ever, understand how companies that hire a contractor to perform services stick up for that contractor? I’ve seen it up and down the government spectrum and now with commercial companies. I just don’t get it. Because if they throw the contractor under the bus then (a) they’ll be admitting they chose wrong, and (b) now both the injured party AND the contractor will sue them, one for beimg ultimately responsible, the other for the underbusing. ---
**Author:** ![Anglachel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Anglachel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anglachel)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2019, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15527 "2019-11-05T19:08:43Z")
Officer found guilty of 2nd degree murder in shooting of suicidal man holding lighter fluid and lighter. > **[Jury convicts OKC officer of second-degree murder](https://www.oklahoman.com/story/news/crime/2019/11/05/jury-begins-deliberations-in-officer-shooting/60423505007/)** > > A jury convicted an Oklahoma City police officer Monday of a crime for killing an unarmed suicidal man. > Sgt. Keith Sweeney, 34, was found guilty of second-degree murder. The jury recommended 10 yea… ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2019, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15528 "2019-11-09T02:26:30Z")
Courtesy of [_Lowering the Bar_](https://loweringthebar.net/2019/11/target-of-police-raid-jail.html), but I’ll also link to the less-snarky [_Chicago Tribune_ story](https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/criminal-justice/ct-wrong-home-raided-chicago-police-20191105-z343m2fa65ejxbbez2qst64enm-story.html): Back in 2015 (a recently filed lawsuit alleges) the Chicago Police Department conducted a no-knock raid on a family home, complete with the usual accoutrements of no-knock raids (kicked-in doors, “flashbang” grenades, Scary Black Rifles pointed at people, and so on). Now, in this case, they didn’t even kill any members of the (of course) African-American family living at this house (which included three boys, then-ages 11, 6, and 4, and their mom); they didn’t shoot anybody; they didn’t even shoot the family dog. The only problem with this particular no-knock raid was that the guy they were looking for didn’t live there. He _had_ lived there, but had moved away in 2009. That is, the guy they were looking for had “moved” involuntarily, to the Hill Correctional Center in Galesburg, Illinois, where he is expected to remain until 2029. :smack: The entire thing was, also _of course_, over drugs. So, some really heads-up detective work there from Chicago’s finest, but, again, they didn’t even shoot anybody, so the whole incident barely even qualifies for this thread. ---
**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:** [November 11, 2019, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15529 "2019-11-11T18:25:52Z")
[California’s Criminal Cops: Who they are, what they did, why some are still working](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/californias-criminal-cops-who-they-are-what-they-did-why-some-are-still-working/ar-BBWylHy) > [@](#): > > More than 80 law enforcement officers working today in California are convicted criminals, with rap sheets that include everything from animal cruelty to manslaughter. > > They drove drunk, cheated on time cards, brutalized family members, even killed others with their recklessness on the road. But thanks to some of the weakest laws in the country for punishing police misconduct, the Golden State does nothing to stop these officers from enforcing the law. > [@](#): > > The review found 630 officers convicted of a crime in the last decade — an average of more than one a week. > [@](#): > > All of the criminal cops who are still on the job were convicted of misdemeanors. Convicted felons can’t be police officers in California — or in most other states. > > However, the review found a third of the convicted officers still working were originally charged with a felony or violent misdemeanor that could have cost them their right to carry a gun. Most managed to plead down to a lesser crime to stay on the job. > > The review also found convictions for about half of the officers still working appear never to have been covered in the media. And it’s not like California Law Enforcement is hurting applicants. Cops in Ca, especially the big cities, get paid pretty well. ---
**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:** [November 11, 2019, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15530 "2019-11-11T19:17:40Z")
[Dallas Transit Agency Pays $345,000 to Settle Lawsuit by Photographer Arrested for Taking Pictures](https://reason.com/2019/11/11/dallas-transit-agency-pays-345000-to-settle-lawsuit-by-photographer-arrested-for-taking-pictures/) > [@](#): > > A DART audio recording of the incident that led to Adelman’s arrest showed that everyone else at the scene recognized that [Officer] Branch was out of line. “He was just taking pictures, right?” one paramedic said. “Why is she going crazy?” \*\*Elmar Lee Cannon, one of Branch’s fellow DART officers, replied: “I don’t know. That’s going to be on her. He can take all the pictures he wants. That’s why I’m not getting involved in that.” \*\*Another paramedic concurred, saying, “I don’t know where that idea [that Ademan had committed a crime] came from…because there is freedom of the press.” Emphasis mine. So, one of this cop’s colleagues recognized that the cop was out of line, but rather than actually attempt to correct the situation, he just lets the cop violate the civilian’s civil rights because he’s “not getting involved in that.” This should qualify as dereliction of duty. ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2019, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15531 "2019-11-12T18:45:16Z")
There’s an in-depth follow up to the article Typo Negative linked to. [Today’s article focuses on the Central Valley town of McFarland](https://www.dailybreeze.com/2019/11/11/how-did-this-california-police-department-hire-so-many-officers-with-troubling-pasts/), and how several of their chiefs are also tainted. Scariest quotes: > [@](#): > > How could one police department make so many questionable hires? For one, California does close to nothing to stop problem police officers from popping up at job after job. The state doesn’t flag disgraced officers to potential employers or revoke their badges. Instead, it’s up to local police chiefs to decide when a candidate is too tainted to hire. And some, like McFarland, set the bar extraordinarily low. > > “I can understand that you would like everybody to be squeaky clean, but I didn’t have that world to live in,” said David Frazer, McFarland’s first police chief. “The ones that I turned down scared me, really scared me. Drug use, recent DUIs, just stuff in their background that was just like ‘are you kidding me?’” And when one chief in another city realized many of the officers he fired were all ending up in McFarland, he reported it to the state oversight agency. The response? > [@](#): > > Two months after he had sent out his pleas demanding an investigation into McFarland’s police force, Purvis got a letter back from POST’s interim executive director shooting him down. > > “The decision whether to appoint an individual as a peace officer rests with the agency head,” he wrote. “Differences of opinion can exist regarding whether or not an individual should be appointed as a peace officer.” ---
**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:** [November 12, 2019, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15532 "2019-11-12T19:07:17Z")
> [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](#): > > There’s an in-depth follow up to the article Typo Negative linked to. [Today’s article focuses on the Central Valley town of McFarland](https://www.dailybreeze.com/2019/11/11/how-did-this-california-police-department-hire-so-many-officers-with-troubling-pasts/), and how several of their chiefs are also tainted. > > Scariest quotes: > And when one chief in another city realized many of the officers he fired were all ending up in McFarland, he reported it to the state oversight agency. The response? As of 2010, 91% of the population of McFarland was Hispanic. I doubt very seriously that many of those police hires were Hispanic. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2019, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15533 "2019-11-12T19:58:10Z")
This is off-topic because it is between two cops (do we have a thread for this?). A small town police chief and detective in his department go to a law enforcement conference on **handling death scene investigations**. **The detective kills the police chief while there:** [https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/officer-accused-of-killing-oklahoma-police-chief-in-florida/ar-BBWB0Jd](https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/officer-accused-of-killing-oklahoma-police-chief-in-florida/ar-BBWB0Jd) I don’t know but this may be going a bit too far to get some practical experience with this issue… ---
**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:** [November 12, 2019, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15534 "2019-11-12T20:25:37Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > As of 2010, 91% of the population of McFarland was Hispanic. I doubt very seriously that many of those police hires were Hispanic. I hate to say it, but I think they are being hired because of a …moral flexibility. They may be willing to do things that are a bit out-of-bounds, ethically. 'Cause ethically, they’re kinda shaky. As I said before, CA Law Enforcement does not want for applicants. McFarland and several other cities could field entire departments from last years LAPD Academy wash-outs. ---
**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:** [November 15, 2019, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15535 "2019-11-15T18:01:02Z")
We’ve talked on quite a few occasions about civil asset forfeiture in this thread, and about how it’s often used in incredibly unjust ways by law enforcement. Check out [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwZYYArVPVc) posted by the FBI. They are literally trying to convince us that civil asset forfeiture saves puppies’ lives. You don’t want the puppies to die, do you? ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2019, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15536 "2019-11-15T20:36:47Z")
[Disturbing video shows police officer tackling a 15-year-old who has no arms or legs](https://www.theblaze.com/news/disturbing-video-shows-police-officer-tackling-a-15-year-old-who-has-no-arms-or-legs) Because. Umm. Reasons! ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2019, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15537 "2019-11-15T20:41:14Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > [Disturbing video shows police officer tackling a 15-year-old who has no arms or legs](https://www.theblaze.com/news/disturbing-video-shows-police-officer-tackling-a-15-year-old-who-has-no-arms-or-legs) > > Because. Umm. Reasons! “I thought he was armed” ---
**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:** [November 15, 2019, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15538 "2019-11-15T20:58:57Z")
I hope you know I feel disgusted at myself for laughing at that. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2019, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15539 "2019-11-15T23:34:16Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > We’ve talked on quite a few occasions about civil asset forfeiture in this thread, and about how it’s often used in incredibly unjust ways by law enforcement. > > Check out [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwZYYArVPVc) posted by the FBI. They are literally trying to convince us that civil asset forfeiture saves puppies’ lives. > > You don’t want the puppies to die, do you? So the people who had the dogs were just going along their way when the fuzz stopped them, took their dogs, told them that they had to prove that the dogs were not involved in any crime and then never charged those people with anything? I mean, like most of the forfeiture cases we hear about? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2019, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15540 "2019-11-16T13:08:02Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#): > > “I thought he was armed” I tried to think of a comeback, but I’m stumped. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2019, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15541 "2019-11-16T13:34:09Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > [Disturbing video shows police officer tackling a 15-year-old who has no arms or legs](https://www.theblaze.com/news/disturbing-video-shows-police-officer-tackling-a-15-year-old-who-has-no-arms-or-legs) > > Because. Umm. Reasons! Don’t trust the video, it doesn’t show you everything. Like the way the suspect moved his eyelids in threatening fashion. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2019, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942/15542 "2019-11-16T14:09:21Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > [Disturbing video shows police officer tackling a 15-year-old who has no arms or legs](https://www.theblaze.com/news/disturbing-video-shows-police-officer-tackling-a-15-year-old-who-has-no-arms-or-legs) > > Because. Umm. Reasons! > [@](#): > > the deputy was called to a group home where the 15-year-old teen resides after being abandoned by his parents. No arms, no legs, no parents, and he has to deal with Officer Friendly. ☹ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942.md?page=776) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/controversial-encounters-between-law-enforcement-and-civilians-the-omnibus-thread/700942.md?page=778)