The Cop & the Professor

[Sunfrogolin]

Cops here aren't that bad. If you're nice and polite to them they're nice back, but if you're a jerk they're bigger jerks.

They weren't given paid vacations (administrative leave) -- THEY.WERE.FIRED.
Why? All cops are innocent until proven guilty so they should get paid leave. On the other hand, regular people just get fired if they call their boss and say "I can't come in this week because I clubbed a guy with a nightstick and now I'm in jail." Real life bosses don't give you a paid vacation, only cop bosses do because they're nice.

P.S. What was in the Brazillian backpack? Why did he run? Was it ever found out? Were they going to deport him?

[PigsnieLite]

I am sure if you are nice to a cop, they are nice too. But whut if you arent nice? Whut if you disagree wid them and you say so in a forceful way? Should you be arrested? Becuz that Cambridge cop seems to think so. *You disrespected my mama so off you go to the Bastille!* But dont Americuns haf FREEDOM OF SPEECHY? Why cant you be free wid your speechy to a cop? Becuz in the best of both worlds, you shouldnt be afraid of a cop -- he should be your friend and he should be a reasonable person.

P.S. What was in the Brazillian backpack? Why did he run? Was it ever found out? Were they going to deport him?

He had clothes & books. He ran becuz he wuz being pursued by plainclothed cops. He didnt know they were cops and there wuz a lot of them so he ran becuz he thought he wuz being attacked by hooliguns. Sometimes, roving packs of these nasties travel about in the Underground. I dont know if he wuz in the country illegally. But even if he was, he didnt deserve to be mown down in a hail of bullets. He wuz even shot several times in the head. The police also lied about his clothing in their report -- they said he wuz wearing a thick down jacket that might haf been hiding a bomb, but he wuz wearing a thin denim jacket only.

[Avril]

Hmm, don't know about you guys, but if I were an elderly black professor returning from an overseas trip at night, probably fatigued and jet-lagged, and found my keys didn't work to open my door, I'd probably get a bit upset to start with. Then if I had to break into my own home, possibly upsetting my dignity and using unusual muscles, I might get even more stressed.

And then, finally inside and just wanting to chill in my own home, to be bailed up by a white police officer - I might just explode and use a few ill-chosen epithets to describe the officer's ancestry.

Stupid, but totally understandable in the circumstances.

Plus we don't know why his keys didn't work (Avril ruminates on various Hollywood scenarios involving an estranged, vengeful spouse, malicious neighbours with superglue, or his key broke off in the lock in his impatience to get inside).

And in addition we don't know why the cop, supposedly well-experienced in handling potentially incendiary situations involving race, wasn't more patient with a man he initially realised was not a burglar.

[Avril]

Oh, and what's AWB syndrome?

[Sunfrogolin]

Originally Posted by Avril

Oh, and what's AWB syndrome?

Arrested While Black I think. Lol.
DWB is Driving While Black. It's a play on DWI, Driving While Intoxicated.

He had clothes & books.
Oh so he was trying to smuggle the latest Harry Potter book before it hit store shelves then? Oh, in that case it's okay. Heh.

[Satine]

Originally Posted by PigsnieLite

But whut if you arent nice? Whut if you disagree wid them and you say so in a forceful way? Should you be arrested?

What if someone was threatening you? What if someone on , lets say the bus, isn't nice to you & disagrees with you in a forceful way...would you want the cops to handle it? If you have the right to a respectful/peaceful conversation, why doesn't a cop?


i don't know the best way to be a cop, i haven't studied criminology & i'd never want to be a cop but what i do know is pretty much how they're going to act if provoked so i just don't.
right or wrong, be compliant. if you're not in the habit of being in a situation that requires a cop then no big.

[PigsnieLite]

See now, here is a perfectly reasonable Oztralian lady who agrees wid the Vandal PLite.

Arrested while Black. Teehee.

BTW, I am not in the least afraid of English coppers in spite of the occasional miscreant. Remember that loony who decapitated his victim wid an ax in the bucolic hedges of Notting Hill? He wuz arrested by cops who didnt even haf guns.

[PigsnieLite]

Originally Posted by Satine

What if someone was threatening you? What if someone on , lets say the bus, isn't nice to you & disagrees with you in a forceful way...would you want the cops to handle it? If you have the right to a respectful/peaceful conversation, why doesn't a cop?

You have changed the subject entirely. A public disagreement on the bus wid a threatening stranger is totally different from a personal disagreement with a cop. Moreover, a loud exchange of words on the porch of somebodys house is not *disturbing the peace* so Professor should never haf been arrested! beebeedee beebeebee beebee beeee .... GACHHHHH!

[Satine]

Originally Posted by PigsnieLite

Oh dear.

Do you know that Americas cops are World Famous for their atrocious behaviour? Here, in Europe, before visiting America, we are warned: Mr Americun Policeman is NOT YOUR FRIEND. Do everything he says or you will be hauled off to the pokey before you can say *whopper!* Do not protest if he tells you to lie on the ground & stomps on your head a couple of times. That is just Mr Policeman having a little fun before his siesta.

Frankly, I think your police are warped. They expect you to bow before them as if they are some sort of superior being, and if you dont, God help you. Since when is it right to arrest someone becuz they were being rude or becuz they raised their voice & *disrespected your mama.* I cannot believe you guys will just go along wid anything a cop says to you. Cops are not always right. When those British policemen mistakenly killed that poor Brazilian man in the subway (they thought he wuz a terrorist and even lied about his appearance), our chief of police had to resign & whole lot of the cops were fired too. They weren't given paid vacations (administrative leave) -- THEY.WERE.FIRED.

As for my personal experience wid police, Yes, I haf been arrested. For vandalizing a rather famous monument. I did it becuz I wuz really young & stupid & I thought it wuz cool. Well, I wuz caught after being chased down the street a couple of blocks. They didnt taser me -- they just ran faster. And when they caught me, they didnt slam me to the ground & kick me in the head & point a loaded gun at me. They just cuffed me in front wid these plastic ties and led me to the police car. They didnt cuss at me or call me names; they just asked me why I did it and then they told me I had done a stupid thing, and then they asked for Papa's phone number. AND THAT WUZ THE WORST! THEY WERE GOING TO CALL MY PARENTS! THEY WERE GOING TO CALL PIGSNIE! I WUZ GOING TO BE IN NEWS OF THE WORLD! I HAD HUMILIATED MY FAMILY! I WUZ GOING TO BE THE FIRST PIGSNIE IN THE PEN! And then I began to blubber that I wuz sorry and that I wasnt ever going to do it again. THus endeth my career as a hardened criminul, and they hadnt even beaten me up. In fact, they were incredibly nice to me, PLite Vandalizur.

I guess my point is that there are other ways your police can behave besides the *KISS MY SCARY VINDICTIVE ASS OR I'LL ARREST YOU* Method. And the police wondur why no one likes them? Eck.

I don't see Gates' name anywhere

[Satine]

Disturbing the peace could mean anyone's peace couldn't it? "The peace" doesn't specify a number or type of person.
BTW I still say Gates had the right to be anoyed & hassled as I initially stated. BUT I also think he let it get out of control. The cops didn't behave unexpectedly, he did. I think they should take Obama's offer to have the beer at the white house & clear the air.