Woosh much?
I saw a show today on Discovery about psychics helping the police. They make great fiction, but unfortunately Discovery presented it as fact. I rolled my eyes all the way to the nape of my neck.
Actually I just watched it on the (mexican cable) Discovery Channel. And I was about to start a thread asking whether american police routinely turns over their cases to psychics…
I can’t help myself… I swear that half the time I read the title of this thread I read it as:
Physics are phony, Mr. Police Officer, in case you didn’t know
…and that would be a hilarious pitting, too, altho in a different way. 
It must have been the same one I watched. It was on Discovery Latin America.
Probably. And I couldn’t help but rolling my eyes over and over again.
The last segment showed an idiotic prosecutor who, having prosecuted poorly once, didn’t want to blow the case again. So, instead of hiring competent detectives and/or forensic specialists he calls the psychic.
Only to hire the better forensic specialist afterwards to “confirm” the facts the psychic had "discovered (probably because the psychic’s evidence wouldn’t have held up in court).
:rolleyes: :smack: :wally
Cops don’t believe in psychics. But I think they hire them on occasion just so they can honestly say they covered all their bases. There are enough whackjobs out there that truly do believe in that fortune-telling nonsense that there could very well be a public uproar if some psychic said he knew where a body was or something, and it turned out the police said they weren’t interested.
Having a self-professed psychic approach the police claiming to know where a body is, and the police actively seeking them out “just so they can honestly say they covered all their bases” are 2 different things. Anyone who would approach on their own claiming to know something would be listen too, at least initially.
Police don’t utilize stupid techniques that they don’t think has any value just to “cover all the bases”. Usually it involves someone of rank actually believing in that horseshit. 99.9% of the other cops I know would never consider asking a psychic for help. But all it takes is one old fool with a gold badge.
How sad is it that this is probably exactly the case. Sometimes I just shake my head sadly at was passes for rational thought amongst humans. The rest of the time I just ignore the situation.
Bolding mine. There are some official police terms that go along with this. Someone who approaches the police claiming to have inside information to a serious crime is called a suspect. Anyone who does this repeatedly and is always wrong is called a nutjob.
Nutjob is not an official police term. Though it should be. I’ll bring it up at the next union meeting.
Honesty Check:
Your daughter is kidnapped and has been missing for two weeks. The F.B.I. believes she is still alive, but police have no leads. A “psychic” comes forward with possible information. Do you a) discount the “psychic’s” statement outright as bunk, or b) humor them in order to see where the investigation might lead?
I’m certainly no fan of “psychics”, in fact I think most of them should be shot, but discounting ESP, etc. out of hand seems closed-minded to me. James Praag (sp?) needs to be boiled alive.
People once agreed that the Earth was flat, anyone that said different was killed.
Modern science just recently completed the human genome, should we expect that we now know everything about human brain functionality? Of course not.
Explain the phenomenon of Deja Vu, almost everyone has experienced it.
To me, thinking that our brain capacity is as limited as we think it is, is just as ignorant as us postulating that out of all of the celestial bodies in the infinite universe, we happen to live on the only rock that has (intelligent) life on it.
This is a Pit thread, so feel free to skewer me if you want. Just make sure to back up your info with some sites. Thanks.
**dnooman **, I actually agree with your points. That said: good luck, my friend. Good luck.
I can understand people who are emotionally distraught turning to stupid, phony answers like psychics. But the police who are supposed to be investigating and relying on real stuff, like facts, are a different thing. If they’re turning to psychics, something’s wrong. Look at it this way: if psychics can really help solve mysteries, we should get rid of the police altogether and go to the psychics first. It would save a lot of time. Police need evidence and clues, psychics can just have visions.
That’s very nice, but it’s ultra-general statement that has little bearing on the actual topic. The human brain may be capable of all kinds of shit, but the psychics we’re talking about are fake.
Okay. :rolleyes: Man, that was hard.
I’m pretty sure that people who turn to bullshit artists with crystal balls, cards and that cold reading crap DO have limited intelligence. That stuff can be entertaining and fun, but taking it seriously is just moronic.
Yeah, because you posted lots of cites, right? First you can find one for people being executed for saying the world wasn’t flat.
The answer, dnooman, is (a), unless you want to spend the rest of several alphabets and all your resources checking out the story of every loser and lunatic taking a shot at a reward and/or notoriety.
Keyboard-enhanced aggression check: most psychics shouldn’t be shot, James Praag does not need to be boiled alive.
History check: people who believed in a spherical earth were not killed for this belief, at least on any scale, or by any “flat-earth” advocate or authority.
Science check: The fact that our knowledge of brain function is incomplete (and doubtless, in some areas, inaccurate) does not lend credibility to anything whatever. A lack of knowledge does not make any hypothesis more probable. Deja vu, whatever you think its relevance here is, can be explained, unexplained, or badly explained, and the odds of psychics being able to provide accurate and useful information not available by more prosaic means change not one whit.
Burden of proof check: on those who claim psychic ability for themselves or on behalf of others. There is no burden to respond to an endless series of “but what about this?” when there’s nothing substantive to lay ground for the question.
You didn’t mention whether the psychic wants paying. Sylvia Brown charges $1400 - $2100 per hour:
Honesty Check: Would you pay her?
http://www.sylvia.org/home/readings.cfm
And who are these people discounting ESP ‘out of hand’? 
How about investigators who have studied paranormal claims closely for decades?
http://www.csicop.org/
http://www.bobpark.org/
Well that proves psychics exist.
Anyway the Earth is flat:
http://www.alaska.net/~clund/e_djublonskopf/Flatearthsociety.htm
Next you’ll be saying that psychics exist because the Church rejected Galileo?
Actually what this proves is that we know more about the human genome.
Which scientist has claimed “we now know everything about human brain functionality”?
By contrast, modern psychics now charge more money. Obviously this proves that they are genuine. :rolleyes:
And which scientists claim we are the only life-form in the Universe?
Are you confusing scientists with creationists?
Do you believe in this chap? (bolding mine)
‘Ohio chiropractor Dr. James Burda, 58, calls it a personal “gift,” a power he discovered six years ago and refers to as, “Bahlaqeem.” This potent ability, he says, enables him to manipulate patients’ joints using only his mind, without touching them. In fact, he says, he doesn’t even need to be in the same room with them.’
'Even the Ohio State Chiropractic Board says it’s an unacceptable departure from their “prevailing standards of care.” They propose the revocation of Burda’s license to practice. ’
‘Kelly Caudill, the Chiropractic Board’s executive director, made a bold statement: “It is the board’s contention that you cannot perform chiropractic by thought.” But Burda is ready. Says he, “What I do is beyond what they understand. Anything that’s beyond what people understand scares them."’
I believe in a mysterious invisible force which affects everything I do here on Earth.
(It’s called gravity.)
And the reason I believe is that I can see it working. (Most dramatically when I dropped a chopping board onto my toe. :eek: )
Since no psychic has ever helped the police, why should I believe in them?
'Renier’s reading was full of the usual “I feel,” “it seems like,” “I see,” “there would have been,” “maybe,” “could have been,” “I think,” and other such expressions. She asked numerous questions. “Is that right?” and “I don’t know” shared the same breath. All the way through, the questioners lead her along in her rambling guesses, as well as nodding approvingly when she was right, and looking puzzled when she wasn’t.
But there’s a good reason for all that feedback, according to Geberth’s book. He specifies that “. . . the police have a responsibility to assure that the psychic is properly handled.” Apparently that “proper handling” consists of following rules that allow the psychic to operate in an ideal “cold reading” atmosphere, and supplying all the details.’
http://www.randi.org/jr/07-02-2000.html
'Inspector Edward Ellison of the U.K.‘s Scotland Yard, in response to statements by psychics that they regularly worked with them, reported that:
1. Scotland Yard never approach psychics for information.
2. There are no official “police psychics” in England.
3. The Yard does not endorse psychics in any way.
4. There is no recorded instance in England of any psychic solving a criminal case or providing evidence or information that led directly to its solution.’
Seems I’m an idiot. What’s you’re qualification?
I listen to what they say and when I realize they’re bullshitting me I knock their teeth out.
Being rational doesn’t make one closed minded.
Cite? Believe it or not there have been plenty of people who knew the world was round as far back as the Greeks at least. When Columbus sailed to the New World the only people who thought the world was flat would have been uneducated superstitious boobs.
I think it’s safe to say that telepathy, prestidigitation, and psychometry aren’t real. Now if you’ll excuse me I’ve got to use my divining rod to find some oil.
Marc
Wow, that’s the just about the most inapt analogy you could possibly offer to try to advance your argument.
The argument for a spherical Earth was deduced from concrete observations and easily supported by the application of reason. The (very few) arguments against it, when presented with the evidence, were based on primitive superstition.
The argument for the existence of psychic phenomena is rooted in precisely the same sort of superstition, with no reason to support it.
The spherical Earth was readily accepted because no other model explained consistent observations that could be made by anyone, such as the way the Earth’s consistently circular shadow is cast on the moon no matter where it is in the sky, or the way southern constellations appear higher relative to the horizon the farther south you go. The few that argued that they believed in a flat Earth did so in spite of the body of evidence.
Flat-Earthers and those who assert a belief in psychics are cut from the same cloth; no credible evidence of psychic phenomena has ever been put forward. You might just as well put proponants of the Tooth Fairy in the same class as Aristotle, if you’re going to put psychic believers in his company. Sure maybe there’s a wee pixie that’ll accept your old teeth in exchange for cold, hard, cash – but if your accountant or Finance Minister acts on your behalf from the belief that it makes sense to dedicate time and energy looking into the possibility of exploiting her as a revenue stream, you should fire them and then kick them in the crotch, in spite of the testimonials from six-year-olds and developmentally-disabled adults.
IMO police departments that use psychics to consult on cases are police departments screaming out for regime change and massive, massive firings and layoffs. Think about it - these are the people that for all practical purposes have the power of life or death over you, and by believing in psychics they’re doing little better than slaughtering a sheep in the evidence locker to examine its liver. What century is this?
Of course, locally here we had numerous police departments fooled by the Quadro Tracker - hey kids, remember that? Police departments and schools spent tens of thousands of tax dollars on these, and cops and school security officers swore on stacks of bibles and with hand resting casually on the butt of their weapon that the Quadro Tracker “worked flawlessly”. High School science teachers (typically out of work gym coaches in my school district :rolleyes: ) told us in great detail how the Quadro Tracker “made sense to them”. In my city, the police actually arrested people they pulled over based on whether or not the Quadro Tracker “detected” drugs, guns, or Thetans in their vehicle.
It’s “to protect and serve”, not “to protect and serve Xenu”, yeesh.
I don’t mind the detectives using psychics. It’s when Parking Enforcement uses them that gets me mad. “I see a light-colored GM vehicle parked next to an expired meter, on a street with a curb on either side.”