DOJ report

[marcinstl]

if you read this you can agree/disagree, feel sorry for or laugh at who/whatever you want. the gist of the report is--- "The city’s practices are shaped by revenue rather than by public safety needs."
(news/post-nation/wp/2015/03/04/the-12-key-highlights-from-the-dojs-scathing-ferguson-report/?wprss=rss_national)
without getting into the black/white thing or Ferguson in particular, I would say that police dept.'s all across this country are driven more by greed for revenue than public safety.
a person has to be dreadfully stupid or crazy to get shot by a cop, has to be stupid or crazy to get caught by the cops. cops by and large are report and ticket writers who want more money for salaries and toys. glad to see the alleged DOJ give them a little poke.

[Longitude Zero]

In many small town departments ticket revenue is a substantial part of the budget. That is true in all 50 states. My dept. really could not care less about ticket revenue as that is such a miniscule budgetary item. We utilize traffic enforcement as probable cause to stop the vehicle and investigate the drivers and occupants subsequent behavior. Scofflaws aka turds are amongst the WORST drivers and commit so many traffic violations it is only a matter of when and not if they will screw up. Turds almost always drive to and from their criminal activities so vehicle stops are a primary way intelligent/competent/professional officers control the criminal element as best we can. Also remember the racist and bigot Holder's DOJ is writing this report so consider the source.

[Bawanna]

^^^^^Precisely what he said. And those agencies who push for writing tickets are usually highly influenced my command staff who are actually the ones the want the money any way they can get it, not the line officers on the street.

Agencies actually get very little of that ticket money anyhow, state, county and 20 other places all want a piece of it. Probably cost more to keep track of what comes in and who gets what than what it brought in.

Many aren't aware that when a Scofflaw is arrested and taken to jail the dept taking them there has to pay the jail for the booking fee and daily fees. All that comes out of the same budget they pay officers with.

Especially small towns that don't have their own jail. Every body wants a piece and it ain't cheap.

[TheTman]

Racially motivated or not, it seems Ferguson Police are pretty quick to escalate minor differences into trips to unconstitutional searches and detention, and/or trips to jail. It would appear many of them (and not just in Ferguson) think they make the law, not enforce it. It would be bad enough if it was just one community, but we see this happening all over the United States. People arrested for filming them, or not doing something they request quickly enough to suit them. It reminds me of some of the stories friends tell about growing up in Arkansas and Mississippi. It's bad enough the Feds are stripping us of our rights, we don't need Law Enforcement joining in and disregarding even more of them. I'm quite thankful that our local Sheriff's department are a highly professional group, and are rarely accused of violating any one's rights, or using excessive force. Our local small town Police Department is a revenue generator, and that's about it. They are in heaven with the interstate being under construction now, and getting double revenue from the tickets they write.
I wish they would require police forces to have a citizen review board, that would honestly look into complaints about illegal orders, or excessive use of force, and unconstitutional searches and detainments. Where the cops couldn't just circle the wagons and come up with a story that they all agree too, then brush off any allegations. Most cops do a good job, but some don't and some departments seem to encourage unlawful behavior or do their best to cover it up.
One thing that irritates me is these cash forfeiture laws, that allows LEO's to take cash from a motorist because it MIGHT be used to purchase drugs. That is nothing but a way to add to the departments finances. No warrant, no court action, just a LEO deciding that you are carrying too much cash, and they seize it. I had to take 10,000 cash to buy a car to another city not too long ago, and was worried the whole time I might get stopped and have my cash confiscated, and for $10K, it's not even cost effective to try and get it back.
The war on drugs is used when it's wanted and ignored when it's not. Funny, but you'd think the Army would eradicate some of the poppy fields in Afghanistan, instead they expecting a record harvest. The CIA funneled large amounts of cocaine into the inner cities to fund their black ops. What war on Drugs?
As long as citizens are treated as criminals by the LEO community, things are going to continue to deteriorate. Years ago, a LEO might offer to help you change a flat tire, now they just as likely to write you a ticket because you pulled over next to a fire hydrant or into a no parking spot or something, depending on your community.
How did things get to where they are today, with rappers singing about killing cops, and people killed over minor offenses. I imagine part of it is racial, part of it's youth rebellion against authority, and wanting to party and have fun, maybe smoke a little pot or something (and don't sit there with a drink in your hand saying how horrible pot is), part of it's the gang culture, part of it's seeing people gunned down or beaten to death, or publicly humiliated for no good reason, and getting fed up and angry over this treatment.

Is it too late to try and turn things around, to build a relationship with the communities they police? It might be, as long as cops look at the population as mongrel dogs, and that they ARE the law, and not law enforcement. It may take awhile, there's a lot of mistrust between the two sides, and it will take a lot of work. Is anyone willing to go the extra step to promote harmony? Or would you rather use an Iron Fist and demand that you be respected. I can only see bad things happening with the Iron Fist. I imagine the Iron Fist plays right into Obummer's hands causing more division between groups of people.

[muggsy]

I believe that Eric Holder forgot that blacks commit a disproportionate amount of crime in his assessment of the situation in Ferguson. Cops don't make a cent off the tickets that they write. The City does.

[marcinstl]

in my little village there's 10 cops and a chief, they're the crime fighters, to busy to do mundane stuff like code violations or helping people. if something big happens they close off the block and stay out of the way of the pro's from County who come in and do the investigation. our "foundation savers" is another joke, welfare with a big red fire truck. on a grander scale the real joke is the non-accredited school district that buses kids to other districts. for me, the interesting part of the report is that meanass dog they got in Ferguson, of 15 people that got bit, all were black, dog needs to go to counseling?

[Scarywoody]

In my opinion, the Department of Justice was on a witch hunt to find something. They reviewed the case and found clear evidence that the officer as in the right. So next they cast a wider net. They weren't going to stop until they could have their ah ha moment. I find their findings inherently racist. Ferguson is a case study in the aftermath of section 8 houses. They drive those able to leave out. What you are left with are those without employment and looking for trouble. It's Detroit on a smaller scale.

[Bawanna]

In my opinion, the Department of Justice was on a witch hunt to find something. They reviewed the case and found clear evidence that the officer as in the right. So next they cast a wider net. They weren't going to stop until they could have their ah ha moment. I find their findings inherently racist. Ferguson is a case study in the aftermath of section 8 houses. They drive those able to leave out. What you are left with are those without employment and looking for trouble. It's Detroit on a smaller scale.

Precisely this^^^. Everything I heard of could find out about the whole deal, the officer was clearly in the right. It was a non issue from the get go.
Not sure what the demographics are in Ferguson but I'm sure the contact with police are proportionate with those same demographics.

[Longitude Zero]

In my opinion, the Department of Justice was on a witch hunt to find something. They reviewed the case and found clear evidence that the officer as in the right. So next they cast a wider net. They weren't going to stop until they could have their ah ha moment. I find their findings inherently racist. Ferguson is a case study in the aftermath of section 8 houses. They drive those able to leave out. What you are left with are those without employment and looking for trouble. It's Detroit on a smaller scale.

Typical DC behavior.

[marcinstl]

another interesting factoid about Ferguson, is tha the judge who ran the court and set the fees, is accused of fixing tickets for family and friends(what judge doesn't do that?) and it appears he's in the rears to the IRS for some $170,000. see, that's the kind of thing that makes the alleged justice system look phony and the people who administer the "justice" look dirty. part of the fun of voting is checking the "NO" box for every scumbag on the ballot (unless it's your scumbag that gets tickets fixed, hehehehehe.)

[Longitude Zero]

And now Barcracker Odumbass's lap dog lackey Eric Holder is threatening to dismantle the Ferguson PD.

[Higgy Baby]

I think there should have been some public apology to the policeman from the WH and DOJ.

[Longitude Zero]

I think there should have been some public apology to the policeman from the WH and DOJ.

Agreed.

[marcinstl]

And now Barcracker Odumbass's lap dog lackey Eric Holder is threatening to dismantle the Ferguson PD.

here in the St.Louis metro area there are 92 little, goofy burgs that ring the city, Ferguson being one of them. the Ferguson cops(under trained and not qualified to work a better dept.) are there to write revenue generating tickets, stop the occasional fight or mostly- show up after the crime to write a report. if any thing like a murder happens the small town cops go to plan B, which is acting as road guards and crowd control for the pro's from St.Louis County Police or the Major Case Squad or theMo. Highway Patrol to do the actual investigation and evidence collecting.
Several of the little burgs have no police dept. and rent that service from County. to reduce their exposure to liability, towns like Ferguson should have signed a contract to rent County Cops, years ago. actually there has been a movement to get rid of the 92 villages and small towns and go to a unified St.Louis City and County. the streamlining and getting rid of service duplications would save the area millions and bring some across the board professionalism to this region. of course this would mean all the little jumped up local politards would have to find a new hobby and places to steal from-- oh, well.

[Armybrat]

Saw a lot of that developing when I lived at Jefferson Barracks from 1954-57. Those big public housing ghettos were being built about then.

And East St. Louis was already a craphole.

Most of my St. Louis cousins moved out to the 'burbs in the late '60s & early '70s. My mom's cousin was a detective in the ST. Lou PD from the '30s to the '60s.

Marc - my brother's 1956 letter jacket supposedly is still on display in the Bishop DuBourg High School athletic trophy cabinet. It was a pretty new school when he graduated there.