• Cops, ? An Unnecessary Pain in the Ass ?

Posted: **Tue Feb 23, 2010 9:18 am**

Thanks, DeaconBlues. Actually, I don't fault "T"'s defense lawyer at all for the outcome. If not for his efforts we would have been stuck with the original deal which would have required "T" to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. He just about had the prosecutor ready to back down and drop the charge when the DA's office did a last minute switch and gave the case to a rookie prosecutor who was out for a first "win." Once that happened, he was willing to work with us on a payment plan for the trial fee, however it would have taken us about 5 years to pay off (even longer if we had to go to appeal) and we just couldn't take the extended hit to our finances. He actually went above and beyond what his initial retainer fee entitled us to, and has even offered to act on "T"'s behalf with the probation people if necessary at no additional cost to us. He was the one bright spot in all of this and I don't know what we would have done without him.

Oh, and some good did come out of all this. Because of our lawyer's refusal to just take the first shitty deal and go away, "T"'s case became something of an embarrassment to the county. As a result, cops on park sting operations now have to wear a wire and a hidden camera, which will make it much harder for them to pick on innocent people in the future.

Posted: **Tue Feb 23, 2010 5:14 pm**

EunuchAusTX, you and your partner MIGHT enjoy watching a movie, "The Two Jakes." That was the sequel to another great movie "Chinatown." In the movie "The Two Jakes," there is a spot where a corrupt police detective tries to frame the private investigator Jake Gittes, and he claims in open court that Mr. Gittes tried to fondle a vice officer in a public restroom... The judge and the whole courtroom starts laughing because they know that it is an obvious lie told by the cops.

This sort of lame chickenshit charge like they framed your partner on has been around since forever ago, where it is the unsubstantiated word of some vice cop versus anyone. Not to trivialize the damage they did, but know that most anyone knows that the chickenshit charges like "disorderly conduct," "public disorder," and "public indecency" are just police bullshit jargon for saying "the policeman did not like the way that person looked and made up something." IF they have any real evidence of a crime, they have a case and charge for a real crime. Among cops, the standing joke is that someone "flunks the attitude test" and then they charge them with one of the chickenshit charges if they cannot manage to get any real criminal evidence.

So if this chickenshit charge ever shows up in your partner's past, in a pre-employment screening or background check, there is a good chance that the prospective employer will see it for the chickenshit that it is.

Posted: **Wed Feb 24, 2010 12:38 am**

I've been pulled over several times, and every time I treat the officer with respect. Hey, I knew I was speeding, and I got caught. That's how it goes, and if you show the cop that you understand that, they generally treat you like an otherwise law-abiding citizen who just made a stupid mistke. I got arrested once when I was much younger for trying to steal gas from a gas station. It was a VERY stupid thing to do, and I admitted that to the arresting officer. He was very nice to me and agreed that it was a pretty dumb thing to do, but it wasn't the end of the world. He asked if I'd ever been "downtown" before (meaning the city lockup) and I said no. He gave me some advice on how to handle myself, saying to just keep to myself and sit in a corner until I could post bail. He said something to the effect of "I see kids like you every week. You're not a criminal, not like some of the people you'll see in there. You just did something stupid. Learn from it and move on."

I feel for people who have had bad experiences with unprofessional law enforcement, but I maintain the belief that most of them really do care about protecting the public and being there for people in a time of need. My ex-fiancee's father was a Dallas police officer for 25 years. Back in the 70s, he risked his life to pull a man out of a burning car (and was burned pretty badly himself in the process), even though that guy had stolen the car and had led them on a chase from one end of Dallas to the other. He would have been perfectly justified to let the guy burn, but he didn't.

i think law enforcement is much like any other profession... you don't hear much about the majority who are doing things right, because that's what you're supposed to do. It's the ones who do things the wrong way that get the headlines.

Posted: **Wed Feb 24, 2010 12:03 pm**

My last interaction with the police surrounded my castration. I was castrated by the guy in North Carolina that was turned in (He wasn't caught) and when the cops came to interview me, they gang piled on me 3 to 1, and then the detective sat on my property telling me they had me on Consipracy (that wonderful charge they throw at people when they have nothing else) but they were treating me as a victim.

In half an hour they made me lose ALL respect I had for law enforcement prior to that point, and I've not gotten it back.

Why?

If I am a victim, why do you threaten me with a conspiracy charge to get me talk?

My attitude these days is F*ck the police.

Posted: **Wed Feb 24, 2010 12:41 pm**

Losethem (imported) wrote: Wed Feb 24, 2010 12:03 pm My last interaction with the police surrounded my castration....

In half an hour they made me lose ALL respect I had for law enforcement prior to that point, and I've not gotten it back.

Why?

If I am a victim, why do you threaten me with a conspiracy charge to get me talk?

My attitude these days is F*ck the police.

In my earlier post, I forgot to also mention at least two other "chickenshit charges," they are "conspiracy to committ...." and "party to the crime." Where ever you might see those charges or the other previously mentioned "chickenshit charges," you should keep in mind that those charges basically mean that the cops had no real criminal evidence, but that they really did not like the person they charged.

The people who ganged up on you are NOT real cops by my definition of the word. A REAL cop would have asked you first if you wanted to press any criminal chareges against anyone, then if you said no, they would have left a card with "Just in case you change your mind and want to talk, please phone..."

But the FAKE cop wannabees just HAVE to have their time in the lime-light, they are all dreaming of doing a cameo appearance on the TV series "COPS" or something like that... That is why these losers find any excuse they can to put on body armor and do a "raid" in hopes that something really exciting will happen... I wonder just HOW these immature idiots get a badge.

Posted: **Wed Feb 24, 2010 6:42 pm**

Before I moved to the mid west I lived in the Santa Cruz Mountains. My oldest son was in a play at the local theater which was next door to a bar. I took his 3 brothers and we went to watch, after the show was over we met in front and talked for a while, finally we were on our way home, within a block a cop pulled me over for a burned out license plate lite, there were 2, actual the one was still lit but very weak, he thought I had left the bar and stopped me on the chance I had been drinking. In California this is agenst the law, when I put it to him he went back to his car, then returned to say he had another call and had to leave. I took the kids home and called my scout master, the cops Sgt. gave him his badge number. It turned out that he was the same cop that had arrested another 16 year old boy for driving a Jag about a week later, thought he stole it, the boys father was that same Sgt. he is no longer a cop and good bye.

The point is through out my life I have come in contact with many kid cops and all of them are a badge with no brains. It only takes one to give all a bad name. If you want to talk the talk you must also walk the walk and most cops fail at the latter.

River

Posted: **Thu Feb 25, 2010 12:12 pm**

EunuchAusTX (imported) wrote: Mon Feb 22, 2010 9:26 pm Let me tell you a story about our faithful law enforcers. In March of last year my partner, "T", was out running errands one morning in Round Rock TX when he stopped at a city park to use the bathroom. When he went in there, the toilet stall had no door which was strange, but he needed to go badly and the nearby stores weren't open yet. While he was sitting in the stall a man entered the men's room, walked right into his stall and made sexual advances toward him. Now most gay men are used to running into the occasional bathroom cruiser, so he just told the guy thanks but no thanks, thinking the guy would leave. However the guy just stood there in the stall with him, so he got up, pulled his pants up and walked out past the guy. When he walked out the men's room door about a half dozen cops were waiting for him outside and the guy from the stall grabbed him from behind and cuffed him. He was arrested and charged with "indecent exposure."

It took 36 hours for me to get him out on bond because the Williamson County jail keeps arrestees as late as possible on the second day so they can get another day's money from the state for having them in custody. It took almost a year to get the case resolved, and in the end he had to take a deal because we ran out of money to continue paying his defense attorney and couldn't afford his trial fees, especially since Williamson County juries almost always return guilty verdicts in these cases so we most likely would have had to go to appeal. He wound up with 15 months probation. This whole ordeal has cost us thousands of dollars in attorney fees, fines, court costs, and now monthly probation fees, plus he now has to be evaluated by a psychologist at his own cost. Not to mention the loss of our peace of mind, our sense of safety and trust, and "T"'s dignity and self-esteem. All for something the he didn't even do in the first place. He has nightmares almost every night in which he is arrested in the middle of some everyday, perfectly legal activity. He has also developed an intense phobia of public restrooms.

I did some digging and found out that this sort of thing has been happening at that particular park for decades. The local cops call it "fishing for queers" and pretty much any gay (or gay-looking) man who walks into that men's room walks out in handcuffs. It's pretty obvious why the stall there has no door on it.

Now I've had a few good experiences with police officers and a few unpleasant ones in my lifetime, but after this I can never, ever look at a cop again without feeling a strong sense of mistrust. What happened to "T" is by no means unique to our county. Every year in this country thousands of gay men are arrested in public restrooms, and while almost certainly some of them are there looking for action, the majority are either taken in by skilled entrapment artists or just flat out falsely arrested like my partner was. A few have both the money and courage to fight the charge, but most are driven by embarrassment or lack of funds to plead the case out, and the ones who have to accept a court-appointed defender almost always wind up with the worst deals. I can't deny the good and heroic things done by many officers, however it also can't be denied that police harassment of gays continues largely unabated in this country and nobody really seems to want to do anything about it.

I have told this story here before. I will tell it again.

When I was in High School, my girlfriend (wife now) and I were out parking in a deserted strip mine area. Not much beyond groping, at least not that time. Anyway, a spot light come on and shines through the windshield. I start the car, throw it into reverse and backing out of the place got the car into a ditch where just the frame was touching the ground.

The red lights finally came on and I thought that we were going to be in a lot of trouble. It was a deputy sheriff. We got out of the car and he actually told us he was sorry that he didn't turn on his bubble light first but that he was hunting for 'dope' smokers. He was going to call a tow truck for us and I explained to him that we'd both have all kinds of trouble from our folks if he did that.

He was going to take both of us home when I remembered I had a chain in the trunk of the care and I asked him if he could pull us out. After a lecture on safety and parking, well, he did it, he pulled us out with my chain!

That was over 40 years ago. I know times have changed and that everybody has issues. I was glad that particular officer was the one we we dealt with that night.

Most cops have a heart. Most will give you a break or at least respect. It is just the few who wield their power like a bully's club. I understand that they have to do that sometimes. Some do it ALL of the time as a protection and self-preservation tactic. Those unhappy people are the ones who should find other professions where they are not tempted to hurt people.

Cops, ? An Unnecessary Pain in the Ass ?

Re: Cops, ? An Unnecessary Pain in the Ass ?

Re: Cops, ? An Unnecessary Pain in the Ass ?

Re: Cops, ? An Unnecessary Pain in the Ass ?

Re: Cops, ? An Unnecessary Pain in the Ass ?

Re: Cops, ? An Unnecessary Pain in the Ass ?

Re: Cops, ? An Unnecessary Pain in the Ass ?

Re: Cops, ? An Unnecessary Pain in the Ass ?