http://cbs4.com/topstories/local_story_033170755.html Watch part 1 and 2.....makes you wonder are they here to serve and protect, or protect their own...
Check out the follow up pieces... http://cbs4.com/video/?cid=74 The first follow up is on page two (allong with an interesting deal about a cop getting arrested). On page on is a bit about one of the cops, from the video at the start of this thread, sueing the TV station.
The intimadation by some of those officers is very uncalled for. But I do not agree with handing out complaint forms like candy. Our policy is you speak to a supervisor first. If you feel it will not get handled correctly , then you can file a written complaint. But 90% of our written complaints that come in are crap. It is a jack hole who just wants to get back at a officer or cause a officer some grief for some reason. Every one of those gets reviewed by a LT and forwarded to IA if need be. So we pay a LT , 120k a year to sit around and read complaints which are 90% unjustified. But it is the only way to be sure the real complaints get handled properly.
Worth every penny to filter out the crap from the 10% that are legit complaints. For a police officer to put his hand on his service side arm in a case where a person is quite obviously asking for a piece of paper is inexcuseable...I would feel intimidated by that action and depending on the circunstance I would feel that my life and well being were at risk. An officers job is to protect and serve...didn't look like he was doing either of those things from the video. If he can't handle those two simple duties he should probably lose his job.
If 90% of the written claims are crap, shouldn't you be b*tching more about the supervisor's salary than the LT who reads through them after? I mean, if the S/V is supposed to weed out the chaff, seems more like he's the one not doing his job, why pay him to do that when that could intimidate someone with a 'real' complaint...why not just give them out as is recommended by the powers that be in Police Assns and avoid the drama?
Because any Supervisor will be called. I could happen to be in the District station on another matter and get wrangled into the complaint. There is no specific supervisor assigned to hand out complaints, where is a certain Lt. who handles them. Alot of road supervisor are way to busy to sit and listen to a long drama and just hand out the complaint so they can move on to the next thing. I dont blame them they are in charge of a group of guys and constantly running from one scene to the scene to provide guidance and approval on some matters. Should be a different way to do it in place, but thats not my call. I certainly don't make policy--I just abide by it..
but that's my point...if the supervisors are letting 90% crap get through anyway, why not make it a more user friendly policy where someone with a complaint can actually get a simple form, fill it out, and hand it in? Why waste the time. You seem against the policy, but it seems like having a more straightforward, easy system that made a complainant more comfortable would make more sense and save time for the supervisors...why not just make it policy as is recommended?
I agree with the I-teams concern that police should have complaint forms. I believe that complaint forms would be useful. Yet I believe the police would benefit more than the public, if a complaint form was implemented into these police departments procedures. It would save police officers the time and work (which also equals tax dollars) of completing a form for the person making the complaint. The police would then be able to say, Heres a form. Come back again after you complete it and have it notarized. This may cause more trouble than it is worth for a person who is illiterate or for a people who wants to start the complaint process immediately (including the police). The Los Angeles PD learned the hard way about the effects of not listening to a concern when they ignored the Rodney King complaint at first. And after the complaint form is completed by the public, the public would still then have to talk to the police. The tester did not want to speak with the police. The tester wanted a form which did not exist, and this was clearly explained to him. The tester had the choice to 1) walk away from the police officers after realizing that he did not want to speak with the officers about a complaint, or 2) stick around and continue to ask for a form and show other signs of ignorance. After the officers learned that the tester was not going to cooperate, they did what was right; which was to terminate the meeting and go about their official business. Speaking with an officer, in and of itself, can not be labeled intimidating. Speaking is not just a good way to communicate and exchange information, it is just about 100% necessary at some point. The police would need to clarify statements and get additional information some how from the person making the complaint. You cant say that the police are intimidating, or corrupt, or a jerk, or power tripping based off of this video. From my observation, the officers all presented themselves as open to taking a complaint into consideration. This undercover investigation by the I-team did not show any evidence of a cover up because no complaint was ever brought up by the tester for the police to cover up. The paper trail theory is not a valid argument. An officer would receive no discipline or harm by receiving a complaint written on a form which is later found to be illegitimate (yet it could serve the purpose of keeping a paper trail on people who waste the police officers time with false complaints). If I had a genuine complaint, I would not have a problem approaching and speaking to those officers. Yet a complaint form option is still a good idea.
I especially liked the cop screaming. "Hand it to me!" over and over when the guy was [proffering his license inches from the cop's hand. We all know what comes next, right? As soon as the guy actually touches the cop with the license he's under arrest for assaulting an officer. And as if cops don't have a bad enough name, we have people on here rationalising these officers' actions.
The simple solution is to have your lawyer send a certified letter with the complaint details/facts. Usually gets the job done and it seems to reach the appropriate people. Another good action is to have the lawyer send an identical certified letter to head of Law Enforcement within the State. There are many great officers who are truly are an asset to the community. Sadly, over the years, i have also had the unfortunate situation of officers who appear to overstep their authority or use certain questionable tactics while on the job. As such, i am an asset to the community for alerting said officer(s) ranking officer the facts of the matter if/when one arises. At the same time i feel it is my duty to alert the head of the State department that oversees the Law Enforcement.
Some of those cops were insane ... the "hand it to me" one was definitely #1 in the assholometer! 285ferrari : the issue with talking with a supervisor is that most people just aren't very comfortable in doing so (and I'm talking normal cops, not the jerks depicted in the vid). A simple form allows people to go home and write down perhaps more objectively how they felt. But the real question is ... was the guy in the video able to file a complaint against "hand-on-gun" and "hand-it-to-me" cops?
