I came across this article this morning (maybe it was from digg) and it reminded me of a conversation we had here the other day. I do NOT believe everything I read in the 'news', so I don't assume this to be accurate. It is, however, consistent with my personal experience.

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Constable Roy Preston, 39, was found guilty on July 28, 2005, of assaulting Said Jama Jama in a parking lot in Toronto in 2003. The incident was caught on tape and the officers involved had actually charged Jama Jama with assault until the video surfaced.
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The full article, which is mostly about finances, can be found here:
http://www.citynews.ca/news/news_13216.aspx



Rambill,

You might not have any recourse in your situation - but as digital video cameras become more and more common, I believe we are going to see more reform.

I can believe it, I wish I had a video tape of some encounters with Law Enforcement. I was curb stomped by 2 cops in Prosser WSH. and was charged with assaulting an officer, I was then put in jail, went to court the next morning, pleaded not guilty and sat in a cell with no books, no blanket or anyone else, finally I asked when my next court date was, they said when the judge desides, I said, I wanna see the judge and change my plea, they took me right then, I pleaded guilty and was let go with a 500 dollar fine.

Dayv,

Thanks for sharing this - how do you feel about police officers as a whole, though? Do you think this is common? I ask to defuse arguments with people who might think we are just here to bash police officers.

As I've said before, I've known many officers I think are professional, honest, and have the highest motives for their work.

No, just like civialian folks, military, coorperate etc... there are good seeds and bad seeds, I feel we NEED law enforcement or we would be in a whole different country, I have a very good friend that is just under the chief of Police in a California Town, he is good people, so yeah,
on a side note, in the city of Billings here in MT. there is an officer that just won a 1.3 million dollar law suit against the city, seems he turned in a couple fellow law officers, well, next thing you know City officials were harrassing him and when he made a need back-up call, no-one came.

it depends on where you go. in cities such as new york city and grand rapids michigan, the police are great people who keep the people safe and help enforce the law. i spent a year in michigan without even getting pulled over because i don't do anything wrong.

on the other hand, you go to a small town like mine, and you get cops who have nothing better to do than mess you up. one of my friends had a cop pull him over, break his tail light with a night stick, then proceed to write the kid a ticket. when the kid protested, the cop yelled at him and told him that for disobeying a police offer he had a right to search the kid's car. four hours later of tearing up the kids car and finding nothing, he left everything in a shambles, including cut apart seats and unhooked engine parts, and gave him another ticket for disobeying the police officer.

i've had similar experiences out here. i've been pulled over several times a month, had my car searched, and have been generally harrassed by the police. i find it's more like a mafia family. if you're not part of the family, you're part of the problem.

another side note...

ever heard dane cook's material before? he has one sketch, a true story about a guy who was shot at 11 times because the police believe he had a grenade. the guy was eating a pair... how do you mess that up, unless he was like *bite* hyuuah! *toss, then ducks for cover*

Dane cook is the shizznate!...

yah there are cases that show the abuse comming to light, i think more people are getting alerted to thier scams than when my situation happened which was 10 yrs ago. Back then nobody wanted to hear that the cops could be dirty.

I think the internet - and self-published content - has played a role here. Now everybody is a potential 'journalist' of sorts.

these things always snowball. at first only a few know the truth, and are labeled as crackpots... then it happens to someone that you know, ect.... word gets out. then eventually everyone knows the deal. it just takes time. Its also true that back in the day the ACLU told me that they couldent help me as i wasent a minority. yup. what a country.

jwaddy your observations about those bopunk little towns is just too true. HELP ME! I AM IN HILLBILLY HELL!!!

Not all small towns are like that tho, the one I'm from everyone is generally friendly unless your a crack head

jwaddy - I grew up in N.Y.C. late '70s through mid '90s
and can assure you that the overwhelming majority of the "Finest"
were the most unspeakably corrupt, murderous bullies you could imagine. The rest were lemmings who went along to get along.
The "Serpico" syndrome is real - an honest cop with a true sense of justice is often a pariah on the force.

I know in small towns with low crime, a cop wanting his gold badge in a hurry may want to plant drugs/guns in your car or smash a light out, but good ol' boy systems are the norm globally, small
scale and large.
You see how corrupt our nation's highest office always is?
Well, it's a trickle-down. This country was founded on the abuse of authority. The guiltiest lawbreakers are the lawmakers.

gee damitscloudy i am not a crackhead and got abused by johnny law just the other day. My crime? my car broke down on the side of the road AND the courthouse clerk entered the VIN number on my vehicle WRONG when i registered by car 2 months ago. The price tag on this one??? $247.00. (county clerks are not responsible for their CLERICAL ERRORS). Its sooooooooooo wunnerful living in HILLBILLY HELL.
just so you know damitscloudy I was NOT GIVEN PERMISSION to call my sons special needs summer school to inform the school I would be LATE picking him up. SHUT UP AND STAND BY THE CURB OR YOUR GOING TO JAIL.