Resistance is Futile.

[likeitfast55]

Not really.

You see the big nasty vehicles and all the gear are due in great part to the amount of shit we may come in contact with. Back in the day you didn't have mass shootings, mother fuckers in swat gear robbing banks with AR's, bombs blowing up entire buildings, planes flying into buildings, etc etc.

I had a buddy that was pinned down in a gun fight and the APV drove right over the top of him and picked him up. I would call that putting a APV to good use. Do we need all that shit. Maybe not. Is it good we have a lot of that shit. Absolutely! Just in case we need it. The problem is sometimes those items are not used in the best of situations. Sometimes officers / administrators should think, just because we can, doesn't mean we should. It is a fine line and sometimes it just looks bad.

I think, in this day and age we have a two fold cluster fuck going on. A lot of people are not raising their kids to be accountable for their actions. There is no discipline growing up and no consequences. Now in dealing with the police that obviously is not going to work out as planned for a lot of kids after they turn into an adult. Now couple that with a younger police force who also believe their actions won't have consequences. You can see where this might be a problem. For the most part, most officers show good discretion, and are not out their to show their authority. Unfortunately there are some that just want to be The Man.

Yes you do not have to respect the police. But a little respect goes a long way in how your encounter may or may not go. There are always multiple paths we can take on every call and stop should we choose so. I do not let peoples attitudes affect anything I do. When people are really shitty to me I try to be extra nice and explain things the way I would want something explained to me or one of my family members. I am a less is more guy when it comes to law enforcement. I like to leave most people I come in contact with a positive view of the police department. I am as nice as I can be until I can not be nice anymore. Some people will force your hand and well that sucks for them. I asked a girl we arrested how her customer service was that day. She kind of laughed and said surprisingly well given the circumstance . Being a dick does no one any good in my profession.



This guy gets it. I love rolling around a visiting with people all day when I can. I am a very well rounded guy. I may stop and talk about you car, grass, house, whatever. I even enjoy the question and answer sessions when people ask. I get really good Intel on bad elements this way. Is that the reason I stop and visit. Hell no I just love to talk. It just works for me.

Your description of your professional "bedside manor" is to be admired. This attitude used to be the prevailing demeanor of the vast majority of the law enforcement professionals across this nation. I saw it growing up.
The instant communication world we live in now is vastly different from just 10 years ago. Everyone has a camera and is out to make a name for themselves. Good example is the "police following" group in Arlington recently in the news. While I despise their methods and tactics. They have the right to film police as long as it does not interfere with their official duties.

Along the previous lines------I always obey the law,inspection stickers,insurance, etc.... So someone that has done nothing wrong has no reason not to cooperate with an officer right? This was my thinking my whole life. Things have changed, we have evolved as a society, more violent. It is just a fact. Just because an encounter with you might be albeit "pleasent" you and your style of law enforcement is dying.

As I said earlier, I don't have answers, just concerns.

[kingjason]

Your description of your professional "bedside manor" is to be admired. This attitude used to be the prevailing demeanor of the vast majority of the law enforcement professionals across this nation. I saw it growing up.
The instant communication world we live in now is vastly different from just 10 years ago. Everyone has a camera and is out to make a name for themselves. Good example is the "police following" group in Arlington recently in the news. While I despise their methods and tactics. They have the right to film police as long as it does not interfere with their official duties.

Along the previous lines------I always obey the law,inspection stickers,insurance, etc.... So someone that has done nothing wrong has no reason not to cooperate with an officer right? This was my thinking my whole life. Things have changed, we have evolved as a society, more violent. It is just a fact. Just because an encounter with you might be albeit "pleasent" you and your style of law enforcement is dying.

As I said earlier, I don't have answers, just concerns.

This is very dangerous on so many levels. Rolling up on the wrong traffic stop is going to get someone killed. If I have to take my attention off of my stop for even a few seconds while some idiot is walking up behind me it is un safe. What if a "routine traffic stop" turns into a shit hits the fan situation and the bullets start flying. They just add to the cluster fuck exponentially. I could give a shit less if they played my traffic stops on a 50 yard projection style TV in the middle of the city as long as I don't have to worry about somebody walking up on me during a stop. How do I know your relative isn't in the car and you are not about to ambush me? I am all for transparency and shit but this is a dangerous situation. Get you a football style across the field listening device and a bad ass camera and film me. Just don't walk right up on my stop.

[JC316]

Not really.


I had a buddy that was pinned down in a gun fight and the APV drove right over the top of him and picked him up. I would call that putting a APV to good use. Do we need all that shit. Maybe not. Is it good we have a lot of that shit. Absolutely! Just in case we need it. The problem is sometimes those items are not used in the best of situations. Sometimes officers / administrators should think, just because we can, doesn't mean we should. It is a fine line and sometimes it just looks bad.

I think, in this day and age we have a two fold cluster fuck going on. A lot of people are not raising their kids to be accountable for their actions. There is no discipline growing up and no consequences. Now in dealing with the police that obviously is not going to work out as planned for a lot of kids after they turn into an adult. Now couple that with a younger police force who also believe their actions won't have consequences. You can see where this might be a problem. For the most part, most officers show good discretion, and are not out their to show their authority. Unfortunately there are some that just want to be The Man.

Every cop that I have encountered has been like you, and I am plenty respectful to them. The biggest issue going on right now is that the law isn't doing enough to stop the bad apple cops. The young officers that believe their actions have no consequences are absolutely correct in that belief. They do something wrong, something that would have a normal person serving time, and at best they get fired.

That is why people don't trust the police any more.

[racrguy]

I just wanted to touch on this one little section. Don't take it as a personal attack, but you're wrong on just about every point you made in this

You see the big nasty vehicles and all the gear are due in great part to the amount of shit we may come in contact with.

Since I may come into contact with those same things, can I have one with no purchase price?

Back in the day you didn't have mass shootings,

Yes you did, like what someone else said, the advent of instant communication and news travel has made it seem like the number of instances has gone up when in fact it has remained relatively flat.

mother fuckers in swat gear robbing banks with AR's,

This has happened once, to my knowledge.

bombs blowing up entire buildings, planes flying into buildings, etc etc

An MRAP wouldn't save you in the event of nor prevent these from happening.

Statistics show that violent crime is going down, despite the police trying to tell you otherwise. A majority of the time these are used is during raids for drugs, when the rate at which they find what they're looking for is less than half, if memory serves right.

I have absolutely no problem with you, especially since you said the "just because you can doesn't mean you should" line that I so much like. I just really don't like the prevalence of the militarization of the police, and the mindset that comes with it. Our judicial and legislative branches have lost their goddamn minds, making laws that are incredibly redundant. We lock up entirely too many people for bullshit reasons when they haven't caused harm to others. Personally, I think the first thing that should come to a police officer's mind when they're about to begin an encounter is "did X action materially affect another person." Not can it, but did it.

I kinda went off on a tangent there and ranted a bit. Sorry.

[Broncojohnny]

The problem is there a lot of cops who shouldn't be cops. And instead of those people being held accountable, their coworkers make excuses for them. You can see it in every FTP thread here, the cops criticize everyone for "Monday morning quarterbacking" and then turn right around, often in the next sentence and do the exact same thing by trying to make up excuses for what the police may have done.

The other day in the tazering thread, someone said an eight year old may have known martial arts and therefore she was dangerous. Yes, dangerous to an adult that is supposed to be somewhat trained in handling people physically. Am I the only one who thinks that is absurdity? Sometimes I wonder if people even stop and think about what they are typing.

[likeitfast55]

This is very dangerous on so many levels. Rolling up on the wrong traffic stop is going to get someone killed. If I have to take my attention off of my stop for even a few seconds while some idiot is walking up behind me it is un safe. What if a "routine traffic stop" turns into a shit hits the fan situation and the bullets start flying. They just add to the cluster fuck exponentially. I could give a shit less if they played my traffic stops on a 50 yard projection style TV in the middle of the city as long as I don't have to worry about somebody walking up on me during a stop. How do I know your relative isn't in the car and you are not about to ambush me? I am all for transparency and shit but this is a dangerous situation. Get you a football style across the field listening device and a bad ass camera and film me. Just don't walk right up on my stop.

Obviously if they were 'walking up behind you" as you say, they are interfering with official duties. You highlighted my post, but the words were lost on you.
I will quote it again. "They have the right to film police as long as it does not interfere with their official duties." I seems that you assume a lot...."How do I know your relative isn't in the car and you are not about to ambush me?" You don't, that is the nature of your job hazard. You chose the profession, not the citizen that constitutionally protected filming you do it.

Here is where the rubber meets the road, at what point does your job end and my right to film you start? Conversely, where does my right to film you end your right to protect yourself start?

I say both sides, activists and LEO's are guilty of pushing this envelope.

The increased militarization of law enforcement agencies across the nation is absurd. It has me concerned. I am all for "show of force" when needed, but cmone. The National Guard is used in times of civil crisis, not Southlake police for god sake. The elected leaders are out of their ever loving minds allowing this to continue. Sadly I feel it a trend that is very hard to reverse.

[Tannerm]

I gotta ask randy, what vehicle did u see in southlake? If u saw a black armored truck thst looks like a brinks truck then that's the regional swat teams ride. If it was a bear cat armored car, that's NAPD ' swat ride that the regional team contracts out on calls. They have training twice aweek. No swat calls so far this month. So if u saw those, they were going to to or from a training site. As for the police cars, there just basic black and white tahoes...

[likeitfast55]

It was a few months ago Tanner. It looked similar to this. Minus the men hanging off that is. Rolling around town square in middle of the day.




It doesn't take a hacker to find out the surplus military equipment being distributed to small towns everywhere.

" Last year, an investigation by the Associated Press revealed that “a disproportionate share” of $4.2 billion in Pentagon property handed out by the Defense Department military surplus program since 1990 was “obtained by police and sheriff’s departments in rural areas with few officers and little crime.”
"Last November the New York Daily News reported that 165 MRAPs had been handed out to these agencies in less than half a year, and around 731 more vehicles were requested by police after the Pentagon ran out. In most reported incidents, the recipient appears to pay nothing more than the cost of shipping.

“It’s armored. It’s heavy. It’s intimidating. And it’s free,” Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple"

"In Neenah, Wisconsin, for example, Apuzza wrote that the town of only 25,000 now has its own MRAD, despite being far below the national average with regards to crime.

“It just seems like ramping up a police department for a problem we don’t have,” one local father told the reporter. "

[talisman]

kingjason has always come across as one of the most level headed cops on here. And I hate those idiots that are stalking cops in Arlington. They're inventing an issue where there isn't one, and likely just looking for publicity and YouTube views. I laughed my ass off when that fedora wearing fucktard finally got his ass arrested a few days ago.

[dee]

It was a few months ago Tanner. It looked similar to this. Minus the men hanging off that is. Rolling around town square in middle of the day.

That's not a surplus vehicle but a tax payer bought unit.

[dee]

The dissociation with the public is the biggest issue with the police force. I feel like it has to do with the younger generation being or feeling "above" the general public they serve. I work with the police every day and see it all the time the rookies in general are the worst but it usually gets better after a few years on the job.

[Denny]

No way would I be a cop today.

[Rick Modena]

^^^
What not Denny? Its like your in the military while handing out speeding tickets.

[Broncojohnny]

No way would I be a cop today.

Awww come on, you get to play army man dress up!

[CexMashean]

Everyone just gives this guy a pass, no one asks why all of the militarization.