Cops are less than human

[SouthernN'Proud]

OK to lie about a cop in California

What bunk. Name another job that places its employee in as much peril as a policeman. They risk their lives for us dozens of times every day. Now we can go and say anything about their conduct, true or not, and they are defenseless to stop us from trying to take their job just because one of them arrested our drunk brother or whatever.

I wonder why anyone would show up for work today after this ruling at any CA law enforcement agency. The risk is just too high. The pedophile you bust today might just implicate you in a dope deal and get you fired, ya know. And you can't do shit about it.

Sad times, I tell ya.

 

[Gonz]

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

The most overturned court in the country

 

[flavio]

I don't know what the article has to do with being "less than human". It does say

“It was up to the police department to determine if the speech was false,” Chaker said. “I made a complaint against a police officer for twisting my wrist and was charged as a criminal.”

If the police do something wrong and then can just say "no we didn't" and put you in jail for 6 months I can see the problem.

 

[paul_valaru]

the law should be modified, not annulled, a 3rd party (such as an Internal Affairs or an Ombudsman) should investigate.

 

[Winky]

attack our morals
attack the churches
whaaa? don't ya think a great way
to tear down the country would be to wreck
law enforcement?

 

[PostCode]

OK to lie about a cop in California

What bunk. Name another job that places its employee in as much peril as a policeman. They risk their lives for us dozens of times every day. Now we can go and say anything about their conduct, true or not, and they are defenseless to stop us from trying to take their job just because one of them arrested our drunk brother or whatever.

I wonder why anyone would show up for work today after this ruling at any CA law enforcement agency. The risk is just too high. The pedophile you bust today might just implicate you in a dope deal and get you fired, ya know. And you can't do shit about it.

Sad times, I tell ya.

Looks pretty cut and dry to me.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the law was an unconstitutional infringement of speech because false statements in support of officers were not also criminalized.

Seems that is was a one way ruling that was overturned and rightly so. The police could just as easily lodge false statements, which they probably do already, so why can't the person who is paying their wages do the same?

 

[SouthernN'Proud]

Because cops are sworn not to falsify reports. If they're caught doing so, they're axed and rightly so.

The gist is this. It would not be a crime to lodge a false report AGAINST a cop. That opens their liability to a point that interferes with their realistic ability to do their job...a job that requires of them an amount of veracity beyond what John Citizen is held to.

Are there bad cops? Yes. In every department in the country. But they are far, far outnumbered. If we as a society are unwilling to cover their back when some malcontent with an axe to grind wants to stir a pot, then do we have any right whatsoever to ask then to cover our backs in return?

 

[Bobby Hogg]

Did the original law assume that any complaint not upheld was automatically false and worthy of punishment?

 

[Bobby Hogg]

I see it says "knowingly false" in the article, but what does that mean?

I mean, if a person has a legitimate complaint but for whatever reason it doesn't stand up, they are punished for bringing it at all?

 

[SouthernN'Proud]

No. The link was pretty clear about the origins of the law. After the "Rodney King" riots, a number of people of a certain race began filing completely false reports of police misconduct, for reasons befitting their own agenda. The law was passed to protect the cops from such frivolous matters, as well as to be a deterrant to filing them. Saving interdepartmental investigatory time and expense I wager also factored in to it passing. The repealing of it in effect leaves a cop as open target to have any waste-oid with an agenda go after him, and if it is baseless, the filer cannot be punished. This leads to cops having to be so overly cautious AGAINST one being filed that their abilities to investigate crimes is compromised out of a sense of self-preservation.

At least, that's how I read it...

 

[Bobby Hogg]

I understand that, but how do you seperate a "knowingly false" complaint from one which may be legitimate but cannot be proven? The law may also discourage people with legitimate complaints from coming forward, knowing that they could be prosecuted if their complaint isn't successful.

 

[flavio]

The example was pretty good....

“It was up to the police department to determine if the speech was false,” Chaker said. “I made a complaint against a police officer for twisting my wrist and was charged as a criminal.”

The department can say "no we didn't" and put the guy in jail for 6 months. Seems like a problem to me.

 

[Bobby Hogg]

Yeah, I was just wondering if any complaint that is not upheld is then deemed punishable. Is there any discretion, or is a complaint assumed to be malicious if it cannot be proven?

 

[SouthernN'Proud]

I understand that, but how do you seperate a "knowingly false" complaint from one which may be legitimate but cannot be proven? The law may also discourage people with legitimate complaints from coming forward, knowing that they could be prosecuted if their complaint isn't successful.

I would imagine you would do it like you would in any other profession...by investigating the claim, weighing the evidence, and then deciding if something occurred or didn't occur. Just because we're talking about a cop makes no difference.

 

[Bobby Hogg]

But if it did occur, and is not upheld for whatever reason, then the person who complains should be punished? How would that be fair?

 

[SouthernN'Proud]

Filing a false report is a crime, so yes, if some knucklehead files something that turns out not to be true they are open for prosecution.

Except in California.

 

[Gato_Solo]

OK to lie about a cop in California

What bunk. Name another job that places its employee in as much peril as a policeman. They risk their lives for us dozens of times every day. Now we can go and say anything about their conduct, true or not, and they are defenseless to stop us from trying to take their job just because one of them arrested our drunk brother or whatever.

I wonder why anyone would show up for work today after this ruling at any CA law enforcement agency. The risk is just too high. The pedophile you bust today might just implicate you in a dope deal and get you fired, ya know. And you can't do shit about it.

Sad times, I tell ya.

Marine Recon
Special Forces
Navy SEAL
EOD


BTW...The best way to get an investigation in the DoD is to do your job too well. Nothing irks the higher-ups more than efficiency.

 

[Winky]

Yeah and a lawyer doctor or ceo gets paid betta than them thar other folks huh?

 

[PostCode]

Because cops are sworn not to falsify reports. If they're caught doing so, they're axed and rightly so.

The gist is this. It would not be a crime to lodge a false report AGAINST a cop. That opens their liability to a point that interferes with their realistic ability to do their job...a job that requires of them an amount of veracity beyond what John Citizen is held to.

Thus we should be biased towards cops? It works both ways. You know, one of the things I try to teach my kids is that it's a two way street. They have to come out to. It's not a one way street for them, rather a two way street for both of us. We both have to work on it.

I see an analogy here. If the cops can have their own little way, which of course, they are ready do, then why should the people paying their wages have to suffer? Palease!

Are there bad cops? Yes. In every department in the country. But they are far, far outnumbered. If we as a society are unwilling to cover their back when some malcontent with an axe to grind wants to stir a pot, then do we have any right whatsoever to ask then to cover our backs in return?

And you just answered you're own question. Are they outnumbered? Well, lets see the comparison of numbers here. I've no evidence to back this but rather will go by gut instinct and assume joe blow cop has the same human instincts I have (a most accurate assumption). Most likely, taking into account the population of any given city vs. false claims, and given department vs. false claims, I'm sure the percentage of population is a moot point. As for myself, I'm willing to bet that the proportion of fraudulent cops is actually higher in any given community.

There used to be a time when a cop wrote a bad check and the id10t lost his job. I wish it were that way now, maybe we would have far less Neanderthals roaming the streets.

Basically, it really boils down to this. If you give a police office the "ability" to file false claims then you MUST give the ability to the individual. It works BOTH ways, not one way. This isn't 1933.

 

[SouthernN'Proud]

Good Lord.


If ever any of us needed proof of the sorry ass times we live in, where the exception is more important than the rule...

How do you people live from day to day? I mean, between being paranoid about cops, trying to make sure no one says Jesus in public, assuring that every illegal alien in America has adequate health care, and spending the rest of your day overseeing everything W does, how do you even have time to sleep?

Nitpicking. Half of y'all ain't even read the damn column, and still you find fault. I'm sending a case of Icy Hot to this forum, to treat all the jerked knees.

The story is about repealing a law against filing bogus claims AGAINST a cop, and how that is no longer a crime. If some of y'all hate cops so much, I suspect there's a reason. Anyone who would say that cops do not deserve protection from the pieces of filth they deal with every day isn't living in reality, plain and simple. Bash your local cops all you like. It's your right. But it'd be real funny to watch you do it to their face, then call one a few months later when you're the victim of a crime. Yes, every department in America has a bad cop in it. We all know that. Every McDonald's in America has some goober who forgets to wash his hands after he pisses on them then fixes your Big Mac too. Does that warrant a witch hunt?

[SnP sighs deeply, shakes head, mixes another batch of mortar for The Roost]