To Protect and to Serve II

#5,351
#5,351
Rasputin_Vol said:
You don't see the clear distinction between private property rights of a bank and a person being out on the public streets? Really?
Click to expand...

You left off the part about it being a protest out on the public streets. You can't wave a gun around in a bank and you usually can't wave a gun around at a protest out on the public streets.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
#5,352
#5,352
I'm starting to think Ras is a mask wearing protestor 😁
 
#5,354
#5,354
Rasputin_Vol said:
Waving a gun is not equal to wearing a mask. Are you serious?
Click to expand...

There are various rules in various situations. Can't wear a hat in a bank. I can't see anything wrong with a rule that doesn't allow people to wear masks in the immediate area of a protest or demonstration even if it's public property. I don't see why you're making a distinction whether it's a private business or an event in a public place. You can't walk around naked at either one. You can carry a gun into a lot of private businesses. You can't carry a gun into an IRS office. If there's the potential of violence erupting at a public demonstration, then there's nothing wrong with not allowing people to attend while wearing a mask.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
#5,358
#5,358
Thunder Good-Oil said:
There are various rules in various situations. Can't wear a hat in a bank. I can't see anything wrong with a rule that doesn't allow people to wear masks in the immediate area of a protest or demonstration even if it's public property. I don't see why you're making a distinction whether it's a private business or an event in a public place. You can't walk around naked at either one. You can carry a gun into a lot of private businesses. You can't carry a gun into an IRS office. If there's the potential of violence erupting at a public demonstration, then there's nothing wrong with not allowing people to attend while wearing a mask.
Click to expand...

I've never heard that one before thus I'm a repeat offender.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2 people
#5,364
#5,364
Ras, you'll get a chuckle out of this one...

So my sister-in-law gets stopped in Hillsville, VA on the way to PA to bury her step-father, who had passed away after a long battle with a laundry list of illnesses. She's driving my wife's SUV, and my wife and niece are also in the vehicle. 80 in a 65 on I-77. The officer is professional, but curt. Tells her he could "arrest her for reckless driving", but writes the ticket and sends her on her way.

Steph is a single-mom, and doesn't have much in the way of disposable income, so I'm going to pay the ticket. She was speeding; she got caught; and that's that. But I make a phone call to the PD and leave a message on the officer's voice mail asking him to call me back. All I want to know is if he will be willing to ask the court to withhold adjudication, so that Steph doesn't take the double-hit of seeing her insurance go up when the ticket posts on her D/R.

No response. So I start doing some research, and I find exactly what I suspect I will find. Virginia is known for draconian traffic laws, and draconian enforcement of those laws. And Hillsville, VA is known as a speed trap. Go figure. Small town, small department, and nice shiny new patrol cars and equipment. Thanks to the close proximity of I-77.

This is the kind of stuff that makes me shake my head, and feel free to laugh at me for getting "caught on my own hook", although not really. Yes, I write speeding tickets...sometimes a lot of them...but I rarely even look at anything less than 15 over, and regardless of the speed, I always try to speak with the driver to see if there is some mitigating circumstance which would allow me to issue a warning instead of a citation. Sometimes yes, and sometimes no. But I always ask.

Had that been me, I'd like to think I would have sent them on their way with a written warning. And when I get a call from anyone, LEO or not, about a citation I have written, I always return the call. If it was important enough for you to reach out to me, it's important enough for me to at least return your call. I can say this because I have done it, hundreds of times. They don't always get the answer they want, but they always get the courtesy of a return call.

Not claiming the moral high ground here, but in an age where everything we do is surgically scrutinized, it's bad enough when LEO's tarnish the badge with questionable, over-aggressive, and sometimes outright criminal behavior. Tracing our lineage back to the Roman Centurions...who kept the peace in whatever recently conquered village they were posted in...sometimes we need to be reminded that we are peacekeepers first, and enforcers second.

I don't think I needed the lesson, because I examined this incident, and I didn't see me. Nonetheless, moving forward I'll try to remember that the car I just stopped may be occupied by someone who might benefit from just a small measure of compassion.

Fire away.....
 
  • Like
Reactions: 3 people
#5,365
#5,365
GreyWolf1129 said:
I don't think I needed the lesson, because I examined this incident, and I didn't see me. Nonetheless, moving forward I'll try to remember that the car I just stopped may be occupied by someone who might benefit from just a small measure of compassion.

Fire away.....
Click to expand...

That is all I ask with regards to all of these encounters between civilians and LEO's... just a basic bit of empathy. My issue isn't with guys like you, GreyWolf. Its these other guys that not only enforce the law with no discretion, but they have no problem using deadly force or escalating a situation over the most minor of offenses.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 3 people
#5,366
#5,366
Rasputin_Vol said:
That is all I ask with regards to all of these encounters between civilians and LEO's... just a basic bit of empathy. My issue isn't with guys like you, GreyWolf. Its these other guys that not only enforce the law with no discretion, but they have no problem using deadly force or escalating a situation over the most minor of offenses.
Click to expand...

And your problem is thinking that's the vast majority of cops when it's actually an extremely small percentage.
 
#5,368
#5,368
GreyWolf1129 said:
Ras, you'll get a chuckle out of this one...

So my sister-in-law gets stopped in Hillsville, VA on the way to PA to bury her step-father, who had passed away after a long battle with a laundry list of illnesses. She's driving my wife's SUV, and my wife and niece are also in the vehicle. 80 in a 65 on I-77. The officer is professional, but curt. Tells her he could "arrest her for reckless driving", but writes the ticket and sends her on her way.

Steph is a single-mom, and doesn't have much in the way of disposable income, so I'm going to pay the ticket. She was speeding; she got caught; and that's that. But I make a phone call to the PD and leave a message on the officer's voice mail asking him to call me back. All I want to know is if he will be willing to ask the court to withhold adjudication, so that Steph doesn't take the double-hit of seeing her insurance go up when the ticket posts on her D/R.

No response. So I start doing some research, and I find exactly what I suspect I will find. Virginia is known for draconian traffic laws, and draconian enforcement of those laws. And Hillsville, VA is known as a speed trap. Go figure. Small town, small department, and nice shiny new patrol cars and equipment. Thanks to the close proximity of I-77.

This is the kind of stuff that makes me shake my head, and feel free to laugh at me for getting "caught on my own hook", although not really. Yes, I write speeding tickets...sometimes a lot of them...but I rarely even look at anything less than 15 over, and regardless of the speed, I always try to speak with the driver to see if there is some mitigating circumstance which would allow me to issue a warning instead of a citation. Sometimes yes, and sometimes no. But I always ask.

Had that been me, I'd like to think I would have sent them on their way with a written warning. And when I get a call from anyone, LEO or not, about a citation I have written, I always return the call. If it was important enough for you to reach out to me, it's important enough for me to at least return your call. I can say this because I have done it, hundreds of times. They don't always get the answer they want, but they always get the courtesy of a return call.

Not claiming the moral high ground here, but in an age where everything we do is surgically scrutinized, it's bad enough when LEO's tarnish the badge with questionable, over-aggressive, and sometimes outright criminal behavior. Tracing our lineage back to the Roman Centurions...who kept the peace in whatever recently conquered village they were posted in...sometimes we need to be reminded that we are peacekeepers first, and enforcers second.

I don't think I needed the lesson, because I examined this incident, and I didn't see me. Nonetheless, moving forward I'll try to remember that the car I just stopped may be occupied by someone who might benefit from just a small measure of compassion.

Fire away.....
Click to expand...
Why are some cops like that? My daughter had an encounter with one the other day because she was parked in the road in front of her friend's house. Even though that's perfectly legal in this town. Started going on about how he "could" have her towed, or he "could" write her a citation. But he was going to "let her off" with a warning. WTH is that? Are we supposed to bow down and praise him for being merciful? Is that his way of establishing that he's the boss? Like the uniform doesn't already do that. Or is this just some random power trip b's?
 
#5,369
#5,369
MyBloodRunnethOrange said:
Why are some cops like that? My daughter had an encounter with one the other day because she was parked in the road in front of her friend's house. Even though that's perfectly legal in this town. Started going on about how he "could" have her towed, or he "could" write her a citation. But he was going to "let her off" with a warning. WTH is that? Are we supposed to bow down and praise him for being merciful? Is that his way of establishing that he's the boss? Like the uniform doesn't already do that. Or is this just some random power trip b's?
Click to expand...

Power trip
 
#5,370
#5,370
Rasputin_Vol said:
Power trip
Click to expand...

Let me share another "dose of humility" with you. This one goes back probably 15 years.

I'm working night shift (8p - 8a) on the north end, which is rural. And I'm on the hunt. Working a two-lane highway, and stopping anything I can get PC on. Not writing any tickets, just looking for warrants/suspended DL's/or DUI's.

About 1 a.m., I stop an old pickup truck. No tag light and one tail light out. The driver gets out, and he just-keeps-getting-out. Think "The Green Mile". This dude is huge, dark, bald-headed, and sweaty. He's also about 60 years old, but I know in my heart that if this cat gets ahold of me, I'm toast. So I instinctively step back, and start thinking about "what if".

He picks up on it. Before I can say another word, he says "Relax, boss. I ain't never hit a white man."

That's when the light went on in my head. We were living in completely different worlds. He's on his way home from the mill. He just finished his 12-hour shift. He's sober, and he's exhausted. Tag lights and tail lights are not high on his list of what he can afford to buy with his next check. He makes less than I do, and I'm barely making ends meet.

I handed him his license back, thanked him for his cooperation, and went back to my car. I thought about that encounter a lot the rest of that night, and in the years that have followed.

They don't teach you that lesson in the academy. You have to go get it on your own. Fortunately, I was paying attention when it came.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2 people
#5,371
#5,371
GreyWolf1129 said:
Let me share another "dose of humility" with you. This one goes back probably 15 years.

I'm working night shift (8p - 8a) on the north end, which is rural. And I'm on the hunt. Working a two-lane highway, and stopping anything I can get PC on. Not writing any tickets, just looking for warrants/suspended DL's/or DUI's.

About 1 a.m., I stop an old pickup truck. No tag light and one tail light out. The driver gets out, and he just-keeps-getting-out. Think "The Green Mile". This dude is huge, dark, bald-headed, and sweaty. He's also about 60 years old, but I know in my heart that if this cat gets ahold of me, I'm toast. So I instinctively step back, and start thinking about "what if".

He picks up on it. Before I can say another word, he says "Relax, boss. I ain't never hit a white man."

That's when the light went on in my head. We were living in completely different worlds. He's on his way home from the mill. He just finished his 12-hour shift. He's sober, and he's exhausted. Tag lights and tail lights are not high on his list of what he can afford to buy with his next check. He makes less than I do, and I'm barely making ends meet.

I handed him his license back, thanked him for his cooperation, and went back to my car. I thought about that encounter a lot the rest of that night, and in the years that have followed.

They don't teach you that lesson in the academy. You have to go get it on your own. Fortunately, I was paying attention when it came.
Click to expand...
I respect your ability to access a situation, think it through, see the other perspective, and make a decision accordingly. And to actually reflect after the fact and learn from the encounter tops it off. :good!:
 
#5,372
#5,372
InVOLuntary said:
I've seen polls regional polls showing that people are in favor of keeping pot illegal. It depends on the region. The last poll I saw in Tennessee was a couple of years ago and it was like 60-40 against legalization but don't hold me to that.

You want to legalize pot, get it on the ballot. Work toward it. Then let the populace decide.
Click to expand...

I thought we were given inalienable rights by our Creator? I didn't realize my rights were at the mercy of 60% of the voters...
 
  • Like
Reactions: 6 people
#5,373
#5,373
Rasputin_Vol said:
I thought we were given inalienable rights by our Creator? I didn't realize my rights were at the mercy of 60% of the voters...
Click to expand...

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Thomas Jefferson.

Thought I’d point out that you conveniently forgot a “certain” key word there hoss.
 
#5,374
#5,374
tim said:
We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". Thomas Jefferson.

Thought I’d point out that you conveniently forgot a “certain” key word there hoss.
Click to expand...

Reefer is covered under "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness"...

In fact, there are so many rights that we have that you can't enumerate them, which is why we have the 9th Amendment. That pretty much takes care of "certain" rights, hoss.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: 3 people
#5,375
#5,375
Rasputin_Vol said:
Reefer is covered under "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness"...

In fact, there are so many rights that we have that you can't enumerate them, which is why we have the 9th Amendment. That pretty much takes care of "certain" rights, hoss.
Click to expand...

There are things called laws. Here’s how it works bruh.

Congress creates and passes bills. The President then signs those bills into law. Federal courts may review these laws and strike them down if they think they do not agree with the U.S. Constitution
 
New posts
You must log in or register to reply here.
Advertisement





Back
Top