One of the things that always gets me about TV and movie crime dramas is that the good guys (usually cops, but sometimes PI’s) pull out their guns for the stupidest of reasons. One of the first rules about using a gun—which cops are supposed to know—is never to point it at anything you wouldn’t be willing to put a hole in. This includes other people. You never draw your weapon, except to point it; and you never point it, except to shoot. So in the crime dramas, when the cop pulls out a gun and points it at an unarmed civilian, that’s unrealistic… Or is it?
We certainly hear about cases, especially in drug raids, where government enforcers pull out the guns, and sometimes even start shooting, with inexcusable results. In the “War on Drugs” episode of Penn & Teller: Bullshit (season 2, episode 4—get it at Amazon or from Netflix), they show a cop describing a drug raid at a government school, saying that the officers kept their weapons at a “low ready position.” That’s the correct position, and the official line. Then Penn & Teller showed security-camera footage of this same douche-bag (or another uniformed individual who just happened to be wearing the same scalplock) pointing his gun and screaming at one of the kids, who was cowering against a wall. No drugs were found in the raid, by the way.
I’m sure as hell glad that wasn’t my kid. I don’t have enough money for that much psychotherapy!
But I’ve gotten off the point. The issue was, everyone who’s taken a gun course has learned not to point their guns at unarmed people, because that’s dangerous and stupid and could land you in jail for homicide. But do the men with badges point their guns at innocent, unarmed civilians?
In Buffalo, NY, a 10-year veteran did just that. (Shit! I know people in Buffalo!) He pulled out his gun to threaten a bouncer at a club, who wouldn’t let him bring his gun into the club.
[Club Security Manager Stanley] Susz stated: “Mr. Thomas [the off-duty officer] insisted on being allowed to bring his gun into the club and stated that he had previously done so. I explained that there was a new owner in the past couple of years and that, per policy, no person was allowed to bring a gun into the club.”
Susz alleged that Thomas became “belligerent,” saying: “Who you gonna call? You gonna call me. I’m gonna come here, I’m gonna show up, I’m gonna come up here with some guys, and we’re gonna check everything and shut this place down.”
Then, a male and female companion with Thomas, along with two security guards, tried to escort Thomas away…
He, according to Susz’s complaint, then “pulled out a handgun, pointed and waved the gun at [the club employees] and yelled.”
I swear, this stuff is too strange to make up. But it’s what you have to expect when government enforcers start thinking they have unchecked power.
Always watching!
-TimK
Comments
Re: I Wear a Badge! I Don't Have to Follow Your Stinkin' Rules!
I wear a badge. Theoretically, you are correct, you point the weapon when you intend to shoot. You have cited an instance when a member of the commissioned populace acted with imprudence and downright stupidity. There are rules that govern what we do far more than those that govern the average citizen who carries a weapon.
I am commissioned in Missouri and, other than federal buildings, there is no place in Missouri I am not allowed to carry a gun, including bars. There are policies (where I work) against consuming alcohol and carrying a weapon, against showing a weapon unless in the performance of duty, for pointing the weapon at people (if I point it, I have to document it), for carrying it, when I can carry it, in what holster I can carry it, what else I have to carry when I carry it, having to qualify to carry it (yearly), etc. As well, there are rules about getting things for free or discounted because I’m an officer (I cannot accept either and have refused on many occasions, even when people insist, (that cup of coffee I get for free from the person in the line in front of me is never free because I pay for the coffee and give the free one to the person behind me), how I can talk to people, when people make up false things about me what steps I have to take, who can sue me, when I can be sued, what the procedure is if I get sued, when I can possess tobacco (I don’t actually use tobacco in any way, but still), when I can drive a squad car, where I can drive the squad car, how I can drive the squad car, to whom I can talk, the various ways I have to document incidents, what happens if I don’t document properly, the levels of punishment if my fault is severe, the numerous ways I can get fired, the numerous ways I can get suspended, when I can point the weapon, when I can unholster the weapon, which weapons I can use, which weapons I have to carry, when to use the weapon, what happens if I don’t treat each weapon properly, when I have to test my weapons, when I have to test my other tools (did you know there are 8 things I have to do in about 2 seconds if I am to use my RADAR properly?), where I can park, where I can leave my tools, how I document my tools, how I have to inspect my car daily, how I have to document problems with the car, etc. These are examples of roughly 4 or 5 standard operating guidelines. And not an exhaustive listing of each rule inside each guideline, not by far. As well, I have over 120 sets of guidelines governing over 120 areas of my job. And that’s just for my department, that’s not including the rules at the state or federal level. (sorry, soapbox moment)
The one instance you cite, and you may have many more, is not enough to put the label of “I rule cause I have a badge” on all officers. That is akin to me saying that anyone that carries a gun and does not have a badge is most likely a criminal. That’s not the case. I know many people who carry concealed weapons and I would hope more do so. But police are a target because they are the publicly hired enforcers of the publicly chosen law. People resent police because money is taken from their pockets in order to pay police to stop the same people from bending the rules a little bit (what’s 10 mph over?) or outright breaking the rules. Can you imagine if we could fire our own parents? Most children resent their parents but parents are the necessary evil (though my implication is not so much that they are evil, but that’s the perception of children). As well, my analogy is not that police are the parents who know better than the citizen, only that the police are in a role to enforce the rules and catch people when they do wrong. Sometimes it’s with a hand in a cookie jar and they get a smack, sometimes it’s lighting a dogs tail on fire, and sometimes it’s much much worse. My analogy leading to, and my point being, that just because one parent, or many parents have beaten for having not said please at the dinner table, that does not many every parent is a child abuser or that every parent seeks a time when they can catch the child for something small to punish them something furious.
My role as a police officer is to watch, stop crime and criminal behavior, help people when they are down, encourage people, to treat all people with respect and to be courteous, and to open car doors when women lock their children in the car, among many other things.
The movies and shows on TV are a testament to the entertainment’s industry opinion of police as they are the ones to ultimately tell actors to point their weapons and to take the money, and to bully people, and to perpetuate this misconception. We are not the bullies that the TV shows us to be, and we are not the heroes that 1 in 100 movies show us to be, we are the in between who do our job for less pay than if we worked in the private sector because we each have a small glimmer of hope in us that we can help change our community for the better.
Re: I Wear a Badge! I Don't Have to Follow Your Stinkin' Rules!
Hi, John. I usually don’t reply to comments on this site, but you’re a friend, and I wanted to thank you for the well-thought-out, insightful comment.
My intention was not to generalize to all police officers or police departments. It actually lifts my spirits to observe that casually browsing RateMyCop.com shows that most of the feedback there on individual officers is positive. (Unfortunately, most of the positive reports there give no story or details, just unalloyed praise, making them useless as positive anecdotes. Meanwhile, the negative reports are very specific, and sometimes vitriolic.)
However, while I did not intend to generalize to all officers, I did intend to point out the danger of giving officers—or anyone—in general too much power. While—we hope—most would not abuse that power, the fact is that enough do to make it a general concern. And while there are indeed many rules by which police are supposed to abide, unfortunately, rules do little good unless the system and processes in place actually support those rules.
The Human Rights Watch 1998 report on police abuse in the U.S., for example, notes:
Hopefully, the situation has improved over the past decade. Even so, enough individual reports continue to flood in that one can’t keep up with them all. And accounts continue to be told of official misbehavior excused—or even applauded—at all levels of government. Maybe you work in one of the jurisdictions that has implemented systemic safeguards and scientific procedures to avoid running afoul of human-rights issues. If so, excellent. But in the general case, it’s still hard to have faith in “the system.”
-TimK
P.S. Compare a recent article on the new civilian review board in Boston.
Re: I Wear a Badge! I Don't Have to Follow Your Stinkin' Rules!
Well, I had an excellent and eloquent response that took me a bit to write, but my cat jumped on my keyboard and now I start over with far less enthusiasm than my first run. :-/
Let me hit the highlights, and I realize this wont be as romantic as my first go, but, whatever:
1) I do, fortunately, work for a department that enforces public and private conduct guidelines. I also personally serve with officers who have shown that they are not two faced and that their conduct is that which I can trust both to keep me out of the grave and out of the courtroom. I realize that not every officer is like this, and that the typical person who becomes an officer doesn’t do it because it seems like a nice quiet way to earn a check.
2) I do this because I believe in service. I believe citizenship is constantly earned and that it should not simply be a couple’s whim at the geographical happenstance of copulation. Citizenship is not simply a certificate that defines the future, but a way of life that both adds to ones own future AND the future of those around them. I just read a saying (don’t know if it’s true but it sounds good) that the Iroquios law stated that in every deliberation we must consider the effect on the next seven generations. I think, in this spirit, an officer is protected from both himself and the politics in that his motives and goals do not allow him (or her) to abuse their power.
3) Something about being libertarian before I knew what it was in Massachusetts.
4) I went to a seminar by Lt. Col. (ret) David Grossman who described a sheep, wolf, and sheepdog analogy that I think may be enlightening. Here’s a blog that is a pretty good summary: http://www.aretheytrulythatstupid.com/index.php/2008/09/18/on-sheep-wolv…
5) Hope you are having a great end of year!
As history has shown, sequels usually suck. Sorry. I’ve been staring at my cat this whole post to ensure that I catch her before she hits the yucky button.
BTW, I am working at getting into writing as well, started a novel and finished the first chapter but I back burnered it for a bit until I get my programming life back in gear. Any hints on writing would help. I’ve not made any professional contacts at this point. The writing was more of a flirtation that became a one night stand to a “would you like to have lunch next week” to haven’t heard from her in a bit.
And, you’re an ass for leaving me hanging with Abe’s Turn.
When is the next part due out?
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