LEO Contact Best Buy

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joeroket wrote:

Aaron1124 wrote:

I know a lot of cops who won't charge an individual for marijuana possession. I won't say who or what department, but during a ride along, the officer I was with simply ceased the marijuana from the suspect, and told him to "keep it off of the streets" and let him go.

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There are actually a lot of officers like this, but not with just marijuana. I find it is mainly the old timers that are still of the belief that they have almost total discretion on the streets like they did up until the early 90's and the young guys that took the job to try and make a difference.

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When I was 17 I got stopped and had a doobie in my car. I didnt know anything at that time and was worried more about the beer in the trunk. I was driving through Redbud, IL. (no its not a joke, and yes I did say Redbud) a cop stopped me and my friend, we were looking for a party and couldnt find it, I left the address at work and All we had to go on was looking for his car. The cop stopped us because we were driving around a dead town at 10 pm and he didnt recognise us (Redbud at that time was very small), (very small). Anyway the cop stopped us and ran my license then told us to both get out of the car, He gave me a sobriety test then told us to sit down while he searched the car. He came back and told us to keep the music down and if we didnt find our friends then we should probably leave and try tomorrow. We decided to just leave. Just outa town and back on the back roads we decided to blow the doobie, BUT it was gone. The freakin cop took it. So we drank the beer on the way home...

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I've had a doobie confiscated in Texas. Then thrown on the ground. As he walked to his patrol car, he said, "Don't let me see you pick that up." he got in his car and drove away.

ETA: this was about 1997 when I was 18.

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My interaction with Canadian LE has been top notch...

A few times on a professional level, and most recently (sadly) at the memorial service @ Tacoma Dome..

I've also had a single run in with RCMP on the other side of the law (stupid 18 y/o kid stuff), I was never patted down, never handcuffed, and was extremely polite (as was I). Aside from the circumstances, I can say it was actually somewhat.. enjoyable?


Just goes to show you the difference between keeping the peace, and not.

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I think a major change is when cops started being less local, policing as become a fairly large industry in the U.S.

I remember as a teen in B'ham getting our alcohol dumped out and told I don't want to see you again tonight.

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Anther major change has been the increasing militarization of LE.

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Ajetpilot wrote:

Anther major change has been the increasing militarization of LE.

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What do you mean? Also, do you mean that in a positive or negative way?

I see no problem with the police acting as a paramilitary unit, as long as they don't overstep the boundaries, and actually respect the rights of citizens.

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Aaron1124 wrote:

Ajetpilot wrote:

Anther major change has been the increasing militarization of LE.

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What do you mean? Also, do you mean that in a positive or negative way?

I see no problem with the police acting as a paramilitary unit, as long as they don't overstep the boundaries, and actually respect the rights of citizens.

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In free societies, the police are not paramilitary organizations. The purpose of the military is to overwhelm and destroy enemies of the nation. In civilian life, the purpose of police is to investigate crime and apprehend the offenders, and if, by some off-chance, they can protect some persons, property and/or rights, that is a bonus. There should be no "enemies," only law-abiding citizens and those who seek to injure the persons, property, and/or rights of law-abiding citizens.

http://www.cato.org/raidmap/

Just look at the way warrants are routinely served nowadays, compared to how things were even 20 years ago.

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I think their training and structure is needed and comes in to play when it comes to dealing with extremely violent and unpredictable criminals.

How do you feel about special response teams, such as FBI HRT? I'm glad they're on par with U.S. Military Special Forces, as far as training and skills go.

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Aaron1124 wrote:

I think their training and structure is needed and comes in to play when it comes to dealing with extremely violent and unpredictable criminals.

How do you feel about special response teams, such as FBI HRT? I'm glad they're on par with U.S. Military Special Forces, as far as training and skills go.

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Again, domestic law enforcement should not be "on par" with the military; they have completely different missions.

You should research the Posse Comitatus Act.

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ManInBlack wrote:

Aaron1124 wrote:

I think their training and structure is needed and comes in to play when it comes to dealing with extremely violent and unpredictable criminals.

How do you feel about special response teams, such as FBI HRT? I'm glad they're on par with U.S. Military Special Forces, as far as training and skills go.

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Again, domestic law enforcement should not be "on par" with the military; they have completely different missions.

You should research the Posse Comitatus Act.

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I know they have different missions, but what I am saying is that they should be equally good at their missions as the U.S. Military is at their missions. Even though they have differences, they share many of the same missions. The Posse Comitatus Act is used, and comes in to play because the U.S. Military are not as trained to deal with many of the variables that law enforcement deals with. Law Enforcement is much more at risk for civil lawsuits than the military is.

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The role of FBI HRT is as follows

The two chief roles of the HRT are:

• Hostage rescue
• Domestic and foreign counter-terrorism

Secondary roles of the HRT are:

• Apprehending barricaded subjects
• Helicopter operations
• High-risk raids, searches, arrests, and warrants
• Mobile assaults
• Manhunt and rural operations
• Force protection for FBI personnel overseas

To a lesser extent the HRT may also deploy teams or individual operators to act as snipers or to provide protective service details to certain high-profile federal witnesses or dignitaries. Also, the teams of the HRT cycle out and provide support to missions overseas, such as Iraq and Afghanistan, supporting Joint Terrorism Task Forces and performing typical law enforcement activities such as making arrests, processing scenes for evidence recovery, and testifying in court, at home and abroad.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hostage_Rescue_Team#cite_note-TSJ-5
The HRT has performed traditional law enforcement roles during hurricane relief operations, tactical surveys, and, on occasion, pre-positions in support of special events such as the Olympic Games, presidential inaugurations, and political conventions


Considering the level of their missions, I feel they should easily be on par (for their own missions) as the U.S. Military is at their missions. I honestly don't see why it is that so many people are against the paramilitary structure of the police force. I am personally glad to see that the special operators are as highly trained as they are. As long as they're making the right calls, and not putting innocents at risk, conducting false raids on wrong addresses, and are not violating rights, then I do not see a problem. Yes - I am aware that many of them do the opposite of what I just said, but I don't stand for that, and never will.

I truly do apologize if anything I have said offends anyone. Not only am I in the testing process, but I also I have a family that is deeply involved in law enforcement, on local, state and federal levels, and not a single one of them would even think about engaging in behavior that would be considered unprofessional or out of line. I just don't like the stereotype to blanket all members of the police force.