Cops

The BBQ Pit
1

What I see on the show. I was watching Cops, and the other night Alaska State Troopers on Hulu. Flag a car down on dubious pretenses. Whaddaya know, occupants have pot, or oxycontin or whatever. On Alaska State Troopers, half a dozen cops spent all day busting some Eskimo woman for selling five oxycontins. They finally caught up with her spending her gains at the bingo parlor. Now she is facing ten years.

Christ, if I was living in Mooseballs Alaska, I would probably be snorting some oxy myself. Arrgh, the war on drugs must end. :mad::mad::mad::mad:

What really gets me the most is the attitude of these fucking cops, like they serve any purpose whatsoever. “Well, got some drug pushers off the streets, so a good day overall.” No, you waste of tax dollars, you fucked up some poor slob’s life for no reason other than to justify your pathetic job, and maybe the job of your cousin over at the prison. Go fuck yourself. Why can’t you leave people alone?

2

U mad?

:yawn: Baby’s first pitting.

3

It may appeared dubious to you, at home, sitting in your Lazy-Boy, but how do you know it was actually dubious?

Oh jeez, and I bet all other crimes in the jurisdiction went unpunished because the ogres were too busy arresting someone for committing a felony.

Whatever you think about drugs, they’re still illegal in the U.S. I actually agree with you, but that doesn’t make them legal.

You live in Alaska bro?

4

I usually find OPs in the Pitt to be absolutely shitty, so let me give you my award for “Good pitting from the get-go”. Especially the last part.

5

Meh. Bad cops. What ya gonna do?

Actually, what are you gonna do? When they come for you?

6

Hey - nobody puts Baby in a corner.

7

Yet another cop pitting by Stan, big surprise there. :rolleyes:

8

Yup. When you know who the OP is gonna be by the title of the pitting, it’s a sign the schtick may be getting old.

9

Ridding the world of drug dealers one at a time makes cops evil?

10

I wonder about a lot of the stops/arrests on “Cops” too - is it worthwhile to be clogging the court system and prisons with a lot of these hapless bozos?*

On the other hand, I just watched a “Cops” episode where they came up on a car in an apartment complex lot under “dubious” pretenses, and hauled out two guys in their late teens. It turned out that not only did they confiscate drugs, but both suspects had handguns as well.

If I lived in that complex (or in that city, come to think of it) I’d be glad those guys were off the streets.

*one of my all-time favorite “Cops” episodes involved a traffic stop where the driver was doing a Mr. Innocent routine, which was sort of useless given that clouds of dense pot smoke started rolling out of his car the moment he rolled his window down. I also love the “But Officer, this passing stranger threw the drugs into my car through an open window!” excuse.

11

Stupid cops. Don’t they know that they are supposed to uphold only the cool laws?

Stan help 'em out, will ya?

Send them a list of the laws they are supposed to ignore.

12

I agree that they’re just doing their job. I really don’t see anything pit worthy in the OP’s story, aside from the stupid drug laws in this country.

I could get behind a pitting of those.

Cops doing their jobs without you know, killing, beating up, framing innocent people and actively allowing a camera crew along for the ride? Hell, we need more of that!

13

At least Stan may not be making shit up in this, his latest police officer pitting.

14

No, just useless.

It’s pretty clear that in some of the episodes/locales, the cops have some preselected “criminals” they’re ready to offer up to the cameras. I remember one episode where the big bust was a couple of cops walking to some bushes next to a parking lot where, wouldn’t you know, they found a couple of sleeping homeless guys (whose acquaintance with the police force was obviously well-established), and horror of horrors, one of the filthy-faced bums had a SYRINGE (empty) in his pocket.

No doubt after the episode aired, the perps would again be relieved of their free room and board and returned to their outdoor hovel, but hey, it made for a great five minutes of “cleaning up the streets” drama for TV.

15

Of course, it he truly is a drug addict (which isn’t an unreasonable assumption given he was arrested for a syringe) then I wonder how he financed his drug habit?

16

No direct analogy of course, but I get the same feeling of futility when I do laundry. It’s just going to get dirty again, what’s the use?

17

To be honest, an entire half-hour of “cops pull someone over, find nothing, let them go” would be the most boring show ever conceived.

18

I wouldn’t doubt they have hours of just that for every hour that airs.

19

I see this argument a lot in response to people who rant about police, but I think it misses the point. It’s a question of time and money, not necessarily priorities. I seriously doubt that, while busting someone with a few grams of pot, there’s a triple homicide or armed robbery going on a few blocks away.

Instead, I ask these questions. Is busting a bunch of minor drug offenders, requiring all the paperwork, investigation, court time, and jailing worth the time and money that it takes? Sure, I understand that its illegal and all, and though I disagree with it in general, I still wonder if even those who do agree with it really think that it’s worth the money.

Moreso, if cops have so much time to be heavily pursuing such relatively minor crimes, it makes me wonder, not if they’re missing something more major going on elsewhere, but if there aren’t just too damn many cops in the first place. Primarily, extra cops cost more money and force them to find something to justify their jobs, which probably means running these people repeatedly through the system. But secondarily, it means that, by needing more cops, those hiring them cannot be as selective and we are more likely to end up with cops that are incompetent, on a power trip, or otherwise unfit for the job.

Cops are a necessity for civilized life, but I would personally feel much safer with fewer cops that are hired more selectively, better trained, and not in a situation where they’re forced to justify their job by pursuing small time criminals. I think cops doing things like speed traps, which I think do little or nothing to make roads safer and act primarily as a fundraiser for the state, or repeatedly busting small time drug offenders, it’s not so much a sign that cops are necessarily assholes, but that they just don’t have enough other useful stuff to do.

20

Don’t forget there’s great deal of crime surrounding drugs. Drug users commit crimes to support their habit. Burglary, armed robbery, shoplifting, scamming doctors for prescriptions(costing Medicare/Medical/whatever extra).