Think our cops are bad?

the_syco

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090903/ap_on_re_us/us_shot_in_court_1

JERICHO, Ark. – It was just too much, having to return to court twice on the same day to contest yet another traffic ticket, and Fire Chief Don Payne didn't hesitate to tell the judge what he thought of the police and their speed traps. The response from cops? They shot him. Right there in court.
Payne ended up in the hospital, but his shooting last week brought to a boil simmering tensions between residents of this tiny former cotton city and their police force. Drivers quickly learn to slow to a crawl along the gravel roads and the two-lane highway that run through Jericho, but they say sometimes that isn't enough to fend off the city ticketing machine.
"You can't even get them to answer a call because normally they're writing tickets," said Thomas Martin, chief investigator for the Crittenden County Sheriff's Office. "They're not providing a service to the citizens."
Now the police chief has disbanded his force "until things calm down," a judge has voided all outstanding police-issued citations and sheriff's deputies are asking where all the money from the tickets went. With 174 residents, the city can keep seven police officers on its rolls but missed payments on police and fire department vehicles and saw its last business close its doors a few weeks ago.
"You can't even buy a loaf of bread, but we've got seven police officers," said former resident Larry Harris, who left town because he said the police harassment became unbearable.
Sheriff's deputies patrolled Jericho until the 1990s, when the city received grant money to start its own police force, Martin said.
Police often camped out in the department's two cruisers along the highway that runs through town, waiting for drivers who failed to slow down when they reached the 45 mph zone ringing Jericho. Residents say the ticketing got out of hand.
"When I first moved out here, they wrote me a ticket for going 58 mph in my driveway," 75-year-old retiree Albert Beebe said.
The frequent ticketing apparently led to the vandalization of the cruisers, and the department took to parking the cars overnight at the sheriff's office eight miles away.
It was anger over traffic tickets that brought Payne to city hall last week, said his lawyer, Randy Fishman. After failing to get a traffic ticket dismissed on Aug. 27, police gave Payne or his son another ticket that day. Payne, 39, returned to court to vent his anger to Judge Tonya Alexander, Fishman said.
It's unclear exactly what happened next, but Martin said an argument between Payne and the seven police officers who attended the hearing apparently escalated to a scuffle, ending when an officer shot Payne from behind.
Doctors in Memphis, Tenn., removed a .40-caliber bullet from Payne's hip bone, Martin said. Another officer suffered a grazing wound to his finger from the bullet.
Martin declined to name the officer who shot Payne, pending the outcome of an investigation. No charges have been filed, and it's unclear if the officer has been disciplined.
Crittenden County prosecutors did not respond to a phone message seeking comment.
Payne remains in good condition at the Regional Medical Center at Memphis. Payne referred questions to his lawyer.
"I know that he was unarmed and I know he was shot," Fishman said. "None of that sounds too good for the city to me."
After the shooting, Martin said police chief Willie Frazier told the sheriff's department he was disbanding the police force "until things calm down." The sheriff's department has been patrolling the town in the meantime.
A call to a city hall number listed as Frazier's went to a fax machine. Frazier did not respond to a written request for comment sent to his office.
Alexander, the judge, has voided all the tickets written by the department both inside the city and others written outside of its jurisdiction — citations that the department apparently had no power to write. Alexander, who works as a lawyer in West Memphis, did not return calls for comment.
Meanwhile, sheriff's deputies want to know where the money from the traffic fines went. Martin said that it appeared the $150 tickets weren't enough to protect the city's finances. Sheriff's deputies once had to repossess one of the town's police cruisers for failure to pay on a lease, and the state Forestry Commission recently repossessed one of the city's fire trucks because of nonpayment.
City hall has been shuttered since the shooting, and any records of how the money was spent are apparently locked inside. No one answered when a reporter knocked on the door on Tuesday.
Mayor Helen Adams declined to speak about the shooting when approached outside her home, saying she had just returned from a doctor's appointment and couldn't talk.
"We'll get with you after all this comes through," Adams said Tuesday before shutting the door.
A white Ford Crown Victoria sat in her driveway with "public property" license plates. A sales brochure advertising police equipment sat in the back seat of the car.

Now, that's mental.

Biggins

the_syco wrote: »

Think our cops are bad?

NO.
95% of them are just misrepresented by sensationalist media, the punching bag for all politicians and bar counter moaners!

whadabouchasir

Only in america.

Schism

It's like reading an american soaps plot, crazy.

MagicMarker

Bad boys bad boys, what ya gonna do, what ya gonna do when they come for you?

thomond2006

"All My Life, there's panic in America"

Victor McDade

MagicMarker wrote: »

Bad boys bad boys, what ya gonna do, what ya gonna do when they come for you?

Duck, if you're smart

Dravokivich

aw man... I'm sure that'd be a right pain alright...

- Drav!

drunkymonkey

I really couldnt be arsed reading all that!

El Siglo

MagicMarker wrote: »

Bad boys bad boys, what ya gonna do, what ya gonna do when they come for you?

I think you mean Bad Cops?;)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZ31KkjbGao

Tom10

drunkymonkey wrote: »

I really couldnt be arsed reading all that!

But yet you'll find time to comment on not reading it - weird!

Long Onion

Meh, moaning for moaning's sake if you ask me - imagine being pissed off because you get a ticket for doing 58mph in your driveway - the man is obviously a reckless lunatic ...

antodeco

they wrote me a ticket for going 58 mph in my driveway," 75-year-old retiree Albert Beebe said.

Long driveway + cool old lad = Best part of that story

antodeco

Long Onion wrote: »

Meh, moaning for moaning's sake if you ask me - imagine being pissed off because you get a ticket for doing 58mph in your driveway - the man is obviously a reckless lunatic ...

How? It was private property...

EDIT: Sorry, thought I was editing my last post! Needs coffee me thinks

Long Onion

antodeco wrote: »

How? It was private property...

EDIT: Sorry, thought I was editing my last post! Needs coffee me thinks

Whooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooosh!

rossie1977

what do our cops do thats bad??

Guy:Incognito

So the guy got a ticket, failed to get it thrown out (presumably because he was speeding) then felt the law said that he and his family were free to speed on the day of the case. So because he ot another ticket ont he day he was in court, he went back and ranted at the judge till he was restrained and a gun went off? Good enough for him.

With 174 residents, the city can keep seven police officers on its rolls

Now that's what I call a police state! :pac:

Ham rolls I presume.

El Siglo

rossie1977 wrote: »

what do our cops do thats bad??

Oh I don't know, what have they done that was so bad???

Cuddlesworth

Stekelly wrote: »

So the guy got a ticket, failed to get it thrown out (presumably because he was speeding) then felt the law said that he and his family were free to speed on the day of the case. So because he ot another ticket ont he day he was in court, he went back and ranted at the judge till he was restrained and a gun went off? Good enough for him.

At a guess, considering the cops were ticketing people for public road laws on private property and well outside their jurisdiction, I would say both tickets were most likely undeserved.

It would appear that the police force were being paid for by fining everybody else. I'm interest to see exactly how much the police force made in fines.

Fuhrer

Biggins wrote: »

NO.
95% of them are just misrepresented by sensationalist media, the punching bag for all politicians and bar counter moaners!

Even then its not that bad misrepresentation either.

Guy:Incognito

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

At a guess, considering the cops were ticketing people for public road laws on private property and well outside their jurisdiction, I would say both tickets were most likely undeserved.

It would appear that the police force were being paid for by fining everybody else. I'm interest to see exactly how much the police force made in fines.

The court says otherwise.

Long Onion

Maybe it's just me, but I get the distinct impression that the old geezer wasn't actually doing 58mph in his driveway, I think he was making the point that the cops were making it it up and issuing bogus tickets for the revenue?

Am I alone on this, if so, it's the brown tranchcoat and the stovepipe hat please.

Cuddlesworth

Stekelly wrote: »

The court says otherwise.

For the first ticket. The second and all outstanding tickets were dismissed by the judge which clearly means he now holds no faith in the word of the local police. Which would imply that any previous judgements may have been in error.

Long Onion

rossie1977 wrote: »

Q: what do our cops do when they're not eating donuts?

A: Nothing really

FYP

Cuddlesworth

Long Onion wrote: »

Maybe it's just me, but I get the distinct impression that the old geezer wasn't actually doing 58mph in his driveway, I think he was making the point that the cops were making it it up and issuing bogus tickets for the revenue?

Am I alone on this, if so, it's the brown tranchcoat and the stovepipe hat please.

Your thinking of Ireland and not a town in the arsehole of nowhere in the States. A driveway could be a dirt road a couple of miles long.

Cuddlesworth

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

Your thinking of Ireland and not a town in the arsehole of nowhere in the States. A driveway could be a dirt road a couple of miles long.

True, I got up to 30mph in my driveway once! :eek:

Sleipnir

rossie1977 wrote: »

what do our cops do thats bad??

http://www.independent.ie/breaking-news/national-news/garda-to-go-on-trial-over-assault-1878814.html

Banter Joe

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

Your thinking of Ireland and not a town in the arsehole of nowhere in the States. A driveway could be a dirt road a couple of miles long.

The whole story reminded me of the Dukes of Hazzard.

itsallaboutheL

MagicMarker wrote: »

Bad boys bad boys, what ya gonna do, what ya gonna do when they come for you?

Fall over 'cause i've been shot.

Bonavox

We don't have "cops" - whatever they are.

Epic Tissue

In before:

we don't have cops

ah crap!!

That really IS mental!

That amount of text that poorly paragraphed?

Insanity!

david

the_syco wrote: »

TL;DR
Now, that's mental.

Were they wearing their hats?

Overheal

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

It would appear that the police force were being paid for by fining everybody else. I'm interest to see exactly how much the police force made in fines.

From my reading the implication is the officers in Jericho were embezzling most of if not all of the fines.

People get up to crazy **** in the middle of nowhere. I miss Tremors.

Rebelheart

Biggins wrote: »

NO.
95% of them are just misrepresented by sensationalist media, the punching bag for all politicians and bar counter moaners!

I'd agree with that. However, things can be very different if you are from a different section of society. The story back in 1988 of one Derek Fairbrother, a 24-year-old mechanical engineer from The Ward in north Dublin, is, however, still seared in my mind long after he has been forgotten (if even remembered) by most Irish people.


http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/0382/D.0382.198806210132.html

I've searched The Irish Times archive for "Derek Fairbrother" and I've received 49 results, dating from 1988 until 2002. This includes a case from June 1988 when 5 of the 7 gardaí who beat Fairbrother until he had brain damage earlier that month - "Medical experts said that Mr Fairbrother would never be independent again and that there was no prognosis for recovery" ('Witnesses told of blows, kicks', IT, 21 Nov. 1992) were moved from Finglas Garda station ('Five Finglas Gardaí moved to new area', IT 25 June 1988). Fairbrother won a sh itload of money from the Irish state - £375,000 plus costs in 1992.

Only for the ambulance men, who took him from Finglas Garda Station on 12 June 1988, refused to accept him without reporting the bloodied and battered state of Fairbrother when they received him, this would have been another "alleged" incident of Garda abuse.

marko91

Biggins wrote: »

NO.
95% of them are just misrepresented by sensationalist media, the punching bag for all politicians and bar counter moaners!

yep thats why they kicked the **** out of my 16 year old brother for being arrested for something he later turned out he didnt even do:pac:...tons of people i know got that happened tothem!...so its wayyy more than 5% scumbag garda way way more!!!