An Open Letter to American Law Enforcement

[Partsproduction]

The "sin" of many otherwise good police is that they stand up for the thugs and bullies in their midst. They don't personally bully or intimidate lawful people but take it as a slash at them when the bullies are called out for what they are.

That may carry over into other professions but in mine I do not try to justify incompetents or thieves. I figure a machinist who cuts a thread diameter .015" undersized makes all machinists look bad. The guy who charges too much for a simple job makes people think all machine shop owners are crooked

So why do cops stick up for rotten people in their ranks like that bunch in Medford?

 

[Father of four]

Here is a great read that I believe goes well with the Open Letter to Law Enforcement.

http://freedominourtime.blogspot.com/2010/03/resistance.html

I'll post some of it but not all.


Friday, March 26, 2010
Resistance


Imperial impunity: Samurai in feudal Japan were invested with Kiri sute-gomen, "authorization to cut and leave" -- a literal license to kill. Yet they were actually more accountable than police in contemporary America.



"Time to end this! Enough is enough!" With those words, Officer Troy Meade of the Everett, Washington Police Department fired seven rounds into the body of Niles Meservey, killing him instantly. At the time, Meservey was stupefied by alcohol and sitting behind the wheel of his Corvette. The car was completely boxed in by other vehicles and a chain-link fence. According to several eyewitnesses -- including another police officer -- the 51-year-old man wasn't going anywhere, and posed no threat to anyone. Meade shot the drunken man not because of any threat to himself or others; he did it because he was angry and frustrated over Meservey's non-compliance.


Just minutes earlier, Meservey had been cut off by the bartender after he had inflicted unwanted attention on a couple of women at a nearby club, briefly dragging one of them onto the dance floor.


Several people were worried about the prospect of the intoxicated man attempting to drive home when he clearly presented a risk to himself and others. One of them, Trisha Tribble, called 911.


“We’re really concerned about a guy leaving the parking lot of Chuckwagon on Evergreen Way — in a white Corvette, he’s extremely intoxicated,” Tribble told the dispatcher.


Several officers from the Everett Police Department soon arrived; among them were Troy Meade, an 11-year-veteran, and Officer Steven Klocker. Meade arrived at about 11:39 PM; Klocker reached the scene a little less than five minutes later.


By the time Officer Meade arrived, Meservey's Corvette was bracketed by cars on either side and cut off by a parking lot fence in front of him. Meade pulled up behind Meservey, effectively boxing him in.


Joanne Hancock, who was smoking outside the Chuckwagon Inn when the police arrived, went inside to share the news with others concerned about Meservey. This prompted a small group of people to go outside and watch the arrest.


By the time Klocker arrived to provide “backup,” Meade had spent roughly five minutes trying to convince Meservey to get out of the car. Klocker would later report that Meade’s tone and attitude toward the intoxicated man were “belligerent,” and that he “used language which made him uncomfortable because of the nearby civilians.”


He's a hero -- aren't they all? Officer Troy Meade, charged with murder in the shooting death of Niles Meservey.


“I don’t know why the f**k I am trying to save your dumb ***,” Meade snarled at Meservey, according to Klocker’s account.


Both Meade and Klocker withdrew their portable electro-shock torture devices (more commonly called Tasers). Meade, who was closest to the driver, shot Meservey with his Taser through the open driver’s side window, inflicting two separate strikes — one five seconds long, the other six seconds’ duration.


“Why in the f**k did you do that?” muttered the drunken man, who — predictably enough — wasn't inclined to endure any further abuse. He reached for his keys and started the car, but he had nowhere to go: The vehicle lurched over a concrete curb and ran into an unyielding chain-link fence.


Bear in mind, once again, that Meservey was entirely boxed in. It was possible, albeit with some difficulty, for Officer Meade to reach through the window and seize the car keys, rather than escalating the situation by using potentially deadly force. Had he done so, it wouldn't have been long until Meservey would have succumbed to unconsciousness.


But this would have meant exercising a modicum of patience, and doing some heavy lifting. It was more convenient to shoot the unarmed, helpless drunk. So Meade — according to Klocker's official account — took up a position near the left rear wheel of the Corvette, pulled his gun, and fired eight shots into the car.

When several other police officers arrived a few minutes later, Meade was seen pacing back and forth near the murder scene.


“I’m out of it,” he blubbered to one of the new arrivals. “I want my Garrity.”


The “Garrity Rule” — adapted from the 1967 Supreme Court ruling Garrity v. New Jersey, which involved a ticket-fixing scandal — is the legal security blanket desperately grasped by police officers who have just committed a serious crime.


Uttering the incantatory word "Garrity" triggers an enhancement of the right against self-incrimination that only the government’s armed enforcers enjoy: Any statements made thereafter can only be used for the purpose of a departmental investigation, not for criminal prosecution.
Scene of the crime: Meservey's Corvette following the lethal shooting (left); an overhead view (below, right).

Klocker, who witnessed the entire incident, pointed out to investigators that when Meservey’s body was pulled from the car, the prongs of Officer Meade’s Taser were still firmly embedded in his shoulder.


“I’m thinking as I'm dragging him … why didn’t we [shock] him again?” Klocker told investigators. If escalation had been “necessary,” Klocker thought, Meade would have used the Taser again, or resorted to pepper spray. “I would never have shot [Meservey]… I don’t think we had reached that level of force yet,” Klocker concluded.


Meservey was neutralized and not long from the comforting embrace of alcohol-induced unconsciousness. Thus it seems obvious to someone not indoctrinated in the state’s view of discretionary killing that there was no reason to use lethal force of any kind in this situation. Using the minimal force necessary to take the keys away from Meservey would have ended any threat the drunk posed to persons and property.


But Meservey had done something more serious than threaten the lives and property of other citizens; he had insulted a police officer through his persistent refusal to submit.


Meade --who was involved in a prior lethal shooting a few years ago -- vaulted up the escalation ladder from confrontational and abusive language to lethal violence within a matter of minutes. In doing so he provided a compelling illustration of the fact that every encounter between police and citizens is pregnant with deadly consequences for the latter. Though useful, such a lesson was not worth Meservey's life.


Meade was originally charged with first-degree manslaughter and placed on paid vacation (aka “administrative leave”).


Unlike a private citizen charged with lethally shooting an unarmed, non-threatening man six times in the back, Meade was set free on his own recognizance. It’s entirely likely that Meade wouldn’t have been indicted if it weren’t for rising public concern over recent police shootings in Everett.


Meade's attorney defended the murder of Niles Meservey as the result of a “split-second decision," although such manifestly was not the case. Trisha Tribble, who summoned police to the scene by calling 911, was mortified by the death of Meservey, whom she described as “this drunken guy, [who] was obviously out of his mind.” "


"There was no reason for him to die,” she commented after the slaying.


On March 24, Meade was charged with second-degree murder for the June 10 killing of Meservey. According to his attorney David Allen, the charge is outrageous, since a police officer has essentially an unqualified right to dispense lethal force: "I don't think an officer who is on duty -- who is sworn to uphold the law -- should ever be charged with a crime like that." (Emphasis added.)



Bear in mind that Allen didn't say a police officer should never commit a crime like that; what he said, in essence, was that a police officer who commits an act of lethal violence should never be charged with a criminal offense. From this perspective, any use of deadly force by an officer is legal by definition.



The claim made by Allen on behalf of Officer Meade is a contemporary American version of what was called kirisute-gomen in feudal Japan. The phrase, roughly translated as "authorization to cut and leave," referred to the power exercised by Samurai, the Shogun's armed enforcers, to kill anyone from a lower caste who insulted them.


Use the link posted above to continue...

Does this type of action/reaction for the Leo seem to coincide with An Open Letter to American Law Enforcement?

 

[Father of four]

Information on Garrity.

<broken link removed>

 

[Father of four]

I had to post this GREAT example of a LEO who is talking/typing about the above case. I believe what he said is GREAT and sounds like he doesn't need to read the Open Letter to American Law Enforcement. HE LIVES IT!!!!!!!!!

Posted by Swat 567

It's not easy and it's not them against us. It's all of us together, we just get paid to be good citizens and protect those who won't or can't protect themselves. Be an example for all to follow, take the high road, don't become what you despise, it makes us all look bad or dirty. Nothing worthwhile is ever easy, it's hard because it is worth it, because it means something! Shine your badge knowing that it stands for truth, courage and honor don't tarnish it!
Posted by swat567 on Friday, March 26, 2010 07:56 AM Pacific Report Abuse

Recently someone in a high office said that the Constitution was a hinderence to getting things done. It was intended to be, those rights that we and the military die for, give you the freedom to live in a country that affords us freedom and opportunity (no one said either was goign to be easily or by entitlement however). If you don't believe that, you can't be entrusted to wear the shield that grants you the authority to act in another's behalf without violating your oath, our constitution and when it comes down to it, the loved ones who believe in you.

The "Thin Blue Line" is meant to be the Band of Brothers, not the Mafia Code of Silence. It's those who risk their lives to uphold and defend our principles for a higher purpose. It comes from Hamlet, the King inspired his few men to take on a superior French force and told them they would be envied by those who did not have the courage to face that force and the English kicked butt! They stood for their principles and together in what seemed to be a hopeless battle, but they prevailed. They won be standing together, but not in a manner that was with dishonor. In contrast, it was with honor and nothing else would have been tolerated.
Posted by swat567 on Friday, March 26, 2010 07:55 AM Pacific Report Abuse

WOW! I've been in Law Enforcement for 22 years. I've seen plenty in a big city and in a medium sized one. I've worked most of my career "on the street" doing "real" police work.

I get the point that if you didn't see something, you didn't see something. On the other hand, if you didn't see anything because you were in a position to see that there was nothing, that is exactly what you saw. There is only the truth! Sometimes that might put you in a position to say, I saw no threat, that may or may not be true for your partner. He/she might have seen one and it was legitimate, but if not, you have only one path. What you really saw and what you really believed. You have to morally and ethically true to yourself, your family, your friends, your partners, your community and your God.

Last time I checked, we were here to defend the Constitution of the United States and those who live, work, and exist under it. That includes the bad guys! Yep, we might not like them, we might have to shoot them, but we are here to serve our communities and protect them and we have to do that by upholding laws, not subverting them!

THANK YOU Swat567 for your service!!!!!!!!

 

[Father of four]

This will be my last post on this thread. I have given enough evidence as to the HUGE problem that is currently in The United States of America's Law Enforcement. Story after story comes up week after week of Leo's doing things they should not be doing. I have only tried to open the eyes of my fellow citizens to see all the crazy stuff our Law Enforcers are doing.

I hope that the GOOD LEO's out there will pull together and help stop the deterioration of the police force.

I support Law Enforcement! We need honorable men and women to uphold the law and enforce it when needed.

I ask again for you to please hold the fellow Leo's accountable for their unlawful and illegal actions.

Please don't just let it slide and help hide it.

You are here to enforce the laws not break them.

Father of four

 

[zeezee]

FOF. Just hang in there my friend and don't let the little mutts nipping at your heels worry you.

Today is Good Friday, the day our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified and died for the sins of all man kind. Bow your head and give thanks for all the happiness shared with you and know that God wants you to be happy.

 

[Father of four]

I said I wouldn't post again on this thread. Sorry, I have to post this follow up on an above post...


Officer.com Home > Top News Stories

Third NOPD Officer Pleads Guilty in Probe

Posted: Thursday, April 8, 2010
Updated: April 8th, 2010 11:39 AM EDT

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN
Associated Press Writer

NEW ORLEANS --

A former New Orleans police officer told federal authorities he saw a fellow officer shoot and kick unarmed, wounded civilians in a deadly incident on a bridge in Hurricane Katrina's aftermath, marking the first time an officer has provided federal authorities with an eyewitness account of the events.

The former officer, Michael Hunter, pleaded guilty Wednesday to helping cover up the shootings on the Danziger Bridge less than a week after the August 2005 storm.

A court filing Wednesday that describes Hunter's account of the shootings contradicts a police report that said civilians shot at officers before the police opened fire, killing two people and wounding four others.

Seeing no danger to officers, Hunter says he shouted "Cease fire!" after an unidentified sergeant with an assault rifle and other officers opened fire on a group of unarmed civilians who took cover behind a concrete barrier on the bridge.

After they stopped firing, Hunter says he saw several civilians who appeared to be unarmed, injured and subdued.

"(The sergeant) suddenly leaned over the concrete barrier, held out his assault rifle, and, in a sweeping motion, fired repeatedly at the civilians lying wounded on the ground," the filing says. "The civilians were not trying to escape and were not doing anything that could be perceived as a threat."

Moments later, Hunter saw two men later identified as Lance Madison and his 40-year-old mentally disabled brother, Ronald, running away near the bottom of the bridge.

Hunter's statement said an unidentified officer shot Ronald Madison in the back with a shotgun.

"As Ronald Madison lay dying on the pavement, (the sergeant) ran down the bridge toward Ronald and asked an officer if Ronald was 'one of them.' When the officer replied in the affirmative, (the sergeant) began kicking or stomping Ronald Madison repeatedly with his foot," the filing states.

Madison and James Brissette, 19, were killed by police.

U.S. District Judge Sarah Vance said Hunter participated in a "blatant and systematic perversion of justice" and shouldn't be seen as a "hero" for taking responsibility.

"I don't think you can listen to this account without being sickened by the raw brutality of the shootings and the craven lawlessness of the cover-up," she said.

Hunter, 33, of Slidell, faces a maximum sentence of eight years in prison following his guilty plea to one count of conspiring to obstruct justice and one count of misprision of a felony. His sentencing is scheduled for June 30.

Dr. Romell Madison, one of Ronald's brothers, said he didn't know that police kicked his dying brother until he heard a prosecutor read the filing aloud in court.

"The cruelty that my brothers had to endure and the other victims had to endure was heartbreaking," he said.

Hunter's attorney, Townsend M. Myers, said in an emailed statement that his client made "a series of very bad decisions related to what happened on the Danziger Bridge, and what he did in the aftermath of those events. He accepts full responsibility for his bad decisions, and for their consequences."

Two other former officers have pleaded guilty to helping cover up the fact that police shot unarmed people.

Less than a week after the Aug. 29, 2005 hurricane, Hunter drove several officers in a rental truck to the Danziger Bridge, where police shot and killed two people and wounded four others. Hunter allegedly provided a false account of the shootings when he testified before a state grand jury in 2006.

Former Lt. Michael Lohmann and Jeffrey Lehrmann, a former detective, have pleaded guilty to participating in the cover-up, which included a planted gun, phony witnesses and falsified reports.

 

[Riot]

lmfao...I can't read a single post on page 5 because everyone is on my ignore list.

 

[zeezee]

lmfao...i can't read a single post on page 5 because everyone is on my ignore list.

cool!

 

[Partsproduction]

There is no justice in this life. And we, human and fallen everyone, should refrain from demanding it, because if we received it we would all be dead. Not a single human being can loftily claim the righteousness required to administer justice.

If there are good police, they must be better men than the average man, yet still fallen and also worthy of death.

But the average policeman is no better than those who they watch over, and if they are sensitive to the truth it must fill them with humiliation to be so employed.

Bad police, really bad police, do exist, and use their power as a mask of invulnerability stretched thin. It is thin enough to see through I think.

I personally respect the good, and the average, but no one, especially not good police, should try to cover or defend the deeds done by the really bad police, because in doing so they instantly join the ranks with them as bad.

 

[Father of four]

From one of my older posts...

I Believe...
That heroes are the people who do what has to be done when it
needs to be done, regardless of the consequences.

These are Good LEO's.

I bet if you LEO's read it, the above "I believe" comment is probably in the Open Letter to American Law Enforcement somewhere.

 

[deen_ad]

Quick question. Has this ever happened to anyone here?

When a policeman pulls over a driver whose computer record shows not only the driver's license of the vehicle's owner, but the fact that they have a concealed carry permit, it is too often SOP for the cop to approach the vehicle, gun drawn, order the man or woman from the car, put them on their knees and cuff them before anything else transpires.

Either in the PNW or another state? Not flaming anyone or anything. I liked the "letter" and agree with it, but unless you are inner-city, I don't see things like this happening where I (have) live(d).
Maybe I am just naive?

it's been over 25 years since I was pulled over by a LEO for anything. But then the officer was wrong then. I was on I-5 on my motorcycle being passed by a van. They slowed WAY down, I held my speed so it appeared that I was the one speeding and I wasn't. I wasn't packing then, I am now!!

 

[Father of four]

Here is an update...

Officer.com Home > Top News Stories

Second BART Officer Fired in Shooting

Posted: Friday, April 23, 2010
Updated: April 23rd, 2010 11:45 AM ED

BY DENIS CUFF
Contra Costa Times, Walnut Creek, Calif.

BART on Thursday fired a second police officer who detained train rider Oscar Grant III the night he was fatally shot in the back by another officer in a case that has caused an uproar.

Officer Anthony Pirone was terminated by interim Police Chief Dash Butler after an internal investigation upheld a finding of misconduct against Pirone, Butler confirmed.

He said that state laws protecting police officers' privacy bar him from disclosing details of the investigation.

"He (Pirone) is no longer a BART police officer at the end of the day," Butler said.

Pirone had been suspended with pay since the Jan. 1, 2009, fatal shooting of Grant by Officer Johannes Mehserle, who resigned from the force and now awaits his murder trial, which was moved to Southern California because of pretrial publicity.

Mehserle's defense team has asserted that Mehserle accidentally fired his gun instead of his Taser.

Pirone's dismissal, coupled with the firing last month of his partner, Officer Marysol Domenici, completes BART's internal disciplines stemming from the confrontation.

Pirone, 38, was the first officer to detain Grant, of Hayward, and four of his friends at the Fruitvale BART station after police received reports of a fight on a train returning from San Francisco with New Year's revelers.

A video taken by a passenger showed Pirone striking Grant, spurring BART critics to assert that Pirone heightened rather than calmed tensions

on the station platform that night. Pirone also was the officer who decided that Grant should be arrested.

John Burris, attorney for Grant's family, said that Pirone should have been terminated sooner for his actions that led to their loved one's death.

Pirone, a former Marine, is a "very aggressive man," Burris said. "Too aggressive."

Pirone's attorney, Bill Rapoport, did not return phone messages Thursday. Rapoport previously had blamed Grant by saying that Grant tried to knee Pirone.

Last year, BART paid Pirone $100,754, including $3,520 for overtime, when he was on suspension almost the entire year, according to BART records. District officials said they could not immediately explain the overtime.

In 2008, Pirone received $112,447 in pay, including $25,647 in overtime, according to BART records.

BART Board President James Fang, of San Francisco, said Pirone's firing "brings to a close one chapter in the tragic saga of the shooting and killing of Oscar Grant and opens another chapter in oversight of the police department."

BART commissioned an outside audit of its police force. The agency also is seeking state legislation for a civilian board to monitor the police department.

BART General Manager Dorothy Dugger soon is expected to hire a new BART police chief from a field of four final candidates.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service

 

[Father of four]

last year, bart paid pirone $100,754, including $3,520 for overtime, when he was on suspension almost the entire year, according to bart records. District officials said they could not immediately explain the overtime.

In 2008, pirone received $112,447 in pay, including $25,647 in overtime, according to bart records.

wow!!!

 

[Buddymack]

I agree with the letter, I am also a spiritual person though I have a belief system as to what is going on at the same time I am told to have respect for the law and try my best to obey it and show an example, I see the finger being put into our chest and its not an all out Democrat or Republican thing to me, in my 47 years I have noticed a difference in behaviors of the law and the lawmen's attitudes in general not absolutely though I know some pretty stand up Cops but I see a new breed afoot, I see the cops being touted more and more as the "authorities" and I see them and the system that employs them getting out of hand sort of a Rome arises thing.
I know there are those that disagree with me and you have that right, but I myself I am going to defend my home my homeland and my right to worship the God of my choice if that means my blood run hot in the soil that I was created from it will have to be, I don't want to live my life in some Orwellian society which I know will lead to the eventual rising of a single world leader the same leader will command the locals and they will obey, to me I see warnings of this man and Obama is at least a type of this man, a pied piper if there ever was one.
if you want to know what more is going on I say the answers are spiritual and they are in the secular world as looking at the plan of Saul Alinsky and who has quoted him followed him and is and has been associated with in the recent past, is there hope? I believe there may be an awakening I don't know the hour or exact time of anything but I can watch the seasons.

 

[Bruce]

Wow fof, great stuff. What do you think of Gitmo? Those poor dark skinned people suffering under the boot of the "MAN". That must really tear you up.

Bruce.

 

[Buddymack]

Wow fof, great stuff. What do you think of Gitmo? Those poor dark skinned people suffering under the boot of the "MAN". That must really tear you up.

Bruce.

The only thing that would tear me up is ...why did we take them hostage to begin with ?
We should know the Libs just use our enemies as their friends to promote their agneda..
Politically correctism is not peaceful it is war with a painted face.

 

[Bruce]

Buddymack, we did not take them hostage. They are illegal combatants and are not protected by the Geneva Convention. If wasn't for the fact we can gain information from them I would say that there should be no prisoners taken.

Bruce.

 

[Buddymack]

Buddymack, we did not take them hostage. They are illegal combatants and are not protected by the Geneva Convention. If wasn't for the fact we can gain information from them I would say that there should be no prisoners taken.

Bruce.

Actually I agree with you excuse me for my brain fart, you are right that is exactly what they are and their very existence is misunderstood by much of the left, they are not uniformed and they are not protected and should not be by Geneva which they never ever obey and they certainly and absolutely should not be treated as Americans with Constitutional rights, thus we are insane.

 

[Bruce]

Insane, yes indeed.

Bruce.