Thursday, June 28, 2007

Cop arrests and chokes kids for skateboarding.



Once people accept the idea that they have a right to bust heads skulls get broken. Power corrupts. It always corrupts. And that is what’s wrong with the American police. The older I get the less and less respect I have for cops. And I say that reluctantly as I have police officers in my family.

Since many cops are infected with an authoritarian mentality and an obsession for their own authority they simply are not mature enough to deal with most situations. Like spoiled children they over react constantly. These doughnut munchers falsely believe that their word is law. If they order someone to do something they think people are required to obey. That is not necessarily the case at all.

The authoritarian mentality says that there are laws and that they must rigorously be enforced by whatever strong arm methods are required. The seriousness of the “offense” and the response to it need not be balanced. So you get the assholes like the Atlanta cops who were arresting people for jaywalking. And typical of an arrest they manhandle people roughly and try intentionally to humiliate them. They will force non-violent people to the ground and push their face into the sidewalk, street or dirt to prove they are still the alpha-male on the block. It is their way of marking you with their scent. Freud might think it is macho over compensation due to the minute size of their organ. I would tend to agree, small brains and an infatuation with authority go together.

Doughnut muncher Joey Williams (I find it a bit sad when adults still use use their childish names) saw some horrible criminals in Hot Springs, Arkansas. And the chubby loud mouth went into his bad cop routine. The horrible criminals were some kids skateboarding. Listening to Joey you would have thought these kids had done something serious---like buy the last cinnamon twist at Krispy Kreme.

Kids skateboard all the time. And they don’t confine the practice to the few areas where the politicians have given them permission to do so. Most of the time it is ignored. But Joey was grumpy that day. They were out of creme filled. So he took his anger out on some kids skateboarding. So Officer Joey sees these kids and kids are always good for kicking around a bit, especially if no puppy is nearby.

Now the kids probably should have stopped when he told them to just for their own self-defense. After all people on a sugar high with guns can be dangerous. But Joey over reacted. He threatened to mace kids, he put them in choke holds and at no point did these kids try to attack him. Unfortunately for Officer Joey his over reaction was caught on video. And now he looks like the school yard bully he probably was in grade school.

Officer Joey is on leave while his actions are being investigated. Mayor Mike Bush says Officer Joey is “one of the 100 best and finest we’ve got”. I take it there are only 100 cops on the police force in Hot Springs.

A lawyer friend of mine once pointed out that the big problem in America is that once cops were seen as “officers of the peace”. Their job was to keep society civil. But along the way they became “law enforcement” officers and in any over regulated society people obsessed with enforcing all those laws and regulations, instead of promoting the peace, become a threat to it themselves.

PS: Mayor Mike Bush doesn't appear to have an email address. But I do find two phone numbers for him. I believe both are in area code 501. Home number is 623-6863 and his cell phone is 617-0085. Keep it polite it you call. City council members are:

Peggy Brunner-Maruthur ___ pege1947@aol.com ___ 501-624-1965
Elaine Jones ___ direlainejon1@sbcglobal.net___ 501-321-1839
Steve Smith___ mailto:srsmith12003@yahoo.com___ 501-624-4699
Mr. Carrol Weatherford___sable@hsnp.com___501-276-7945
Bill Edwards___no email___501-321-2291
Tom Daniel___td7965@aol.com___501-623-0682

And the head of the department dealing with police is Bobby Southard, 501-321-6705 and he can be emailed atbsouthard@cityhs.net. Remember stay polite.

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