Re:I Got Myself Arrested So I Could Look Inside the Justice ...
by dllthomas on Tuesday December 17, 2013 @06:38PM
(#6924789)
"Paid vacation days" is easy to demonize, but 1) we don't want to take away people's livelihood before making sure there is a problem, and 2) we don't want potentially corrupt officers with their hands on policework.
Not saying it's ideal, but it's a response to two real pressures.
Re:I Got Myself Arrested So I Could Look Inside the Justice ...
by gnaritas on Tuesday December 17, 2013 @09:21PM
(#6925496)
That's why you stick them on a desk, or guarding a prisoner, or doing something unrelated to and away from the public while under investigation. They could still be doing something useful rather than getting a vacation whenever there's a complaint against them. The military doesn't give you time off for this stuff, they just change your job until the shit's figured out and the same should apply to civilians who work on my tax dime.
Re:I Got Myself Arrested So I Could Look Inside the Justice ...
by caprad on Tuesday December 17, 2013 @09:39PM
(#6925548)
> "Paid vacation days" is easy to demonize, but 1) we don't want to take away people's livelihood before making sure there is a problem
Sure, but this is what happens in any other job, you don't get paid when under investifation.
Re:I Got Myself Arrested So I Could Look Inside the Justice ...
by lotharbot on Tuesday December 17, 2013 @11:32PM
(#6925917)
A friend of mine was on paid leave from her public school job just a couple weeks ago, due to an investigation that she'd violated a school policy.
[details: she set a misbehaving 3 year old on a stool. Officially, it's not permissible to "use force" on a child unless it's to prevent them from causing physical harm to themselves or others; placing a child on a seat where they don't want to sit qualifies as "using force" in some peoples' eyes.]
> If they bend the rules, they are severely punished.
No they aren't, they get paid vacation days until another cop lies and says they're innocent under a so called investigation. They should be fired when found to break the law; they should be investigated by outside agencies rather than internal investigations. You can't enforce the law justly if you can't even follow the law.
> If they don't bend the rules, and the rules don't always apply the way liberal suburban white folks might imagine they do on the street, then they get castigated for not "doing their job" i.e. catching the bad guys. At the end of the day, not catching the bad guys is the biggest sin in law enforcement, because it's the mission.
The mission is enforcing the law, not catching the bad guys. More importantly it's not up to police to determine who the bad guys are nor should it be. The rules do always apply and there's no justification whatsoever for breaking them. Better criminals go free than innocent people be harassed by police who think they're on an episode of 24.
> If you fail the mission, you're facing demotion, punishment, deprivation of public support and sufficient budget, and the public will view you with contempt and disgust.
False conclusion from a faulty idea of what the mission should be.
And I have walked a mile in their shoes because I'm an ex-cop. Just my more informed 2 cents.