The aforementioned title is an apt description of what existed in Soviet-era totalitarian states and what Ayn Rand railed against in her novels. It was therefore sad to read this missive from Allen West on his Facebook page about America in 2013:
I was just hoping to have a relaxing Sunday here in South Florida before catching a flight this evening back to LA, but my day took a turn after an outing at the shooting range, when I encountered the long arm of the law. Coming off the Florida turnpike at the PGA Blvd exit I pulled into the lane to pay my $1.10 charge. However, the fella had closed, so I looked in the rearview mirror and since I was the only one there, I backed up and shifted one lane over to pay my turnpike ticket. And then it happened, at 1:07pm, FHP Trooper M.A. Mickens flipped on his lights and pulled me over. He informed me what I did was illegal and I told him I just wanted to pay my ticket and there was no one else coming through any of the lanes. I figured this would be a warning since I did not see any danger presented, but to my surprise, he wrote me a citation for $166.00. I asked Trooper Mickens if I had placed anyone’s life in danger and he responded “no, but you did something illegal.” I asked him if he saw any other cars when I backed up, he responded, “no, but that was not the point.” I explained to Trooper Mickens that I had served in the Army and this just did not seem like it passed a common sense test and why could I not be given a warning. He responded, “you have to get a citation and it explains your options.” I am sure Trooper Mickens has served the Florida Highway Patrol with distinction in his 27 years, yeah, I asked. But this is what perplexes me, where has the ability to make a judgment call gone? Are we now just a nation of unthinking robots which cannot assess a situation in and of itself? I have a perfect driving record that will be tarnished because Trooper Mickens did not think I could make a decision on my own, which threatened no one. I have 30 days to pay the citation of $166.00 to the Clerk of the Court of Palm Beach County. Lastly, no, I never said who I was because I do not deserve any special treatment. This is obviously how we treat law-abiding citizens.
Related: Adam Carolla rants about frivolous tickets in Los Angeles (language warning)
Trooper Mickens white?
(If that is a racist remark I apologize to white cops throughout the South.)
Maybe some racism involved but more likely a bureaucratic tunnel vision mindset…..as well as an US vs them mindset.
The police behave like this because they can…and feel they must demonstrate their power….it’s perhaps fortunate Allen didn’t get tasered for showing “Disrespect of Cop” which can be a capital offence.
We lived 10 minutes from there in 2004/05 and used PGA Blvd often, including that very Turnpike entrance/exit. It’s beside a large development of very upscale homes on the PGA Tournament Golf Course = that area is whiter than the Queen of England.
I’m betting Alan West was ticketed for “driving while black within 150 yards of the PGA homes” … nothing more, nothing less.
Troopers have ticket quotas. It’s called bad luck and bad timing.
re Davers6 5:44. I doubt it very much. M
… check out the nearby PGA homes on Google Earth and see what I mean.
Similar thing happened to me last month… After a week of above-zero temperatures (the roads were mud soup) we had a 3-day blizzard (25cm of snow total). The following morning I awoke to -35C temperature (far too cold to wash the car) and headed onto the highway to drive to work. All my windows and lights were clear, yet the car was filthy. 10 minutes into my trip, I was pulled over by the RCMP, and issued a $111.00 ticket for ‘obscured number plate’ on the back of my vehicle (he was able to read it well enough to issue the ticket!). His arrogance and condescending attitude had me fuming under my breath, but I took the ticket like the good law-abiding tax-payer that I am. Only afterwards did I get to thinking about how sad it was that with all of his police training (tax-payer funded of course), this was the most serious crime he could find that morning. And this was 10 minutes outside of the ‘Murder capital of Canada’… Surely his training and resources could have been put to better use than tax-collecting. and yeah – I know – it was the end of the month, and those quotas were due…
Our cops, both in the US and here, are rubber stamps for PC policy.
It’s sickening — and I used to be inclined to be on their side. Now, they’re no more than glorified civil servants who care only for their cash-for-life salaries and benefits. They’re no better than union parasites.
Kyrie eleison.
Law-abiding citizens are being screwed big-time. What a travesty.
Power tripping over law abiding citizens who won’t fight back and adding to government coffers is about all that police do these days, political correctness prevents them from dealing with other crime. It is sad that as citizens we’ve reached the point that this is our general perception of the police but they and their political masters have created this situation.
Mr.West does the three things that is soooooooo scary to cops and other totaltarians,like the socialist DemonRats in Queebec South. He is a black man off the reservation,he can actually think for himself,and he DARES to question the brown shirts. I say he’s very lucky he isn’t still in jail.
And mike. Guess you haven’t beent to any blue state lately. Davers6 is 100% right.
Florida is a RED / Republican state … but Palm Beach County where this happened (in the SE corner of Florida) votes heavilly Democrat.
You have to understand that the police all over US and Canada are heavily unionized, therefore beholden to the political left establishment and are part of the revenue collection scheme to keep their high salaries and benefits. They no longer serve the general public, especially the average citizen. We are on our own and it will get 3worse and more oppressive.
Sidelines “Surely his training and resources could have been put to better use than tax-collecting.”
Think about it – he’s RCMP. Back in my youth the RCMP were loved by the citizenry. Now the people might have a serious conversation as to whether the Mounties are stupider than they are lazy or lazier than they are stupid. They’ve pretty much pissed off the entire populace by rarely solving or even investigating real crime but jumping on chicken crap with zeal.
Alberta signed on for another 20 years so I will probably be dead before we see a change – probably in the back of an ambulance whose driver was arrested for eating a sandwich. Alberta was all ready to give the buggers the boot but blinked.
Yup, meanwhile child rapists get 2 years in jail, out after 1 year on parole.
And Muslims who blow up buildings and kill children can’t have their korans flushed down the toilet.
Fine world we live in, where increasingly the decent honest people are the ones who get treated like criminals.
Let me add that a long time ago, in a galaxy far away, policemen would make sensible decisions about when to hand out tickets versus warnings.
Those days of policemen making sensible decisions based on particular circumstances are *long* gone.
Now they are trained to be mindless fools, and therefore only mindless fools apply for the job.
If you love Ayn Rand and Jesus — you might be a conservative.
In Calgary, the quota was 20 per month per patrol officer. Failure to do so on a regular basis would result in career restrictions. This was a written policy.
Doesn’t sound like a lot, until you realize it’s the last shift of the month, and you’ve only written three due to a heavy workload of crime fighting.
I hated it. I railed against it. I had career action taken against me for not meeting the quota. And I eventually left well short of 25 years to pursue a rewarding career in business…..
Bottom line – there was, and is, a huge conflict of interest, as the majority of the fine revenue went to fund the Police Service, after the province and the city took a cut. Why the quota? To ensure steady and reliable income for the Police Service. I could secure 100 criminal code convictions in a month, and it meant nothing if I didn’t also meet the ticket quota. I remember feeling like a City sponsored whore, writing ‘no left turn between 0600-0800’ tickets…..
1) Cops pick on minorities. Ride a motorcycle, you will get pulled over constantly on complete BS excuses. Truth is they’re busting your b@lls because you ride a motorcycle. If you’re one of the kinds of people they don’t like, you get a double helping. Plain and simple.
2) Cops do what they’re told. If they get told to collect $X.XX in tickets per week, they will. Justice has no part of it, nor does road safety, and hasn’t since I’ve been alive. This is why Big Government sucks and why we need less of it.
3) Alan West is a damn fool for thinking otherwise, and he’s a bigger fool for back-talking a white cop in Florida. I wouldn’t back talk one of those friggin’ guys on a bet, and I’m whiter than they are. Florida cops, from my experience, are one short little step up from mall cops. Under-trained and under-educated, with a chip on their shoulders like a railroad tie. Don’t lip those good ol’ boys unless you’re in ARIZONA at the range, watching them shoot worse than an 8 year old girl. Then go to town on ’em.
4) If your ticket is BS, take it to court. This is better than getting tasered and @$$-kicked on the side of the road. Lazy cops never show up to court, but they will definitely taser and kick your sorry @$$ if you torque them off.
Cops USED to the good guys; probably before they were unionized. Now they write silly tickets – most likely to meet a quota. Or the “press corps – senior officers” talk nonsense or lie through their teeth; for example, right after they beat up and murdered that Polish guy at the Vancouver Airport a few years ago.
But as others have pointed out, they leave real crime ALONE, and still think they are doing a good job. They probably wonder why so many people call them “pigs” and do not respect them anymore.
Over the last ten years or so, four times I’ve been pulled over for not coming to a full stop at stop signs early in the morning (ie past midnight). One time I was traveling and the other three times I was headed home. On all these occasions I did stop at the stop signs, but not a complete, full stop (who does?). On all these occasions there was not a car to be seen nearby (other than the cop hiding somewhere in the dark).
In all these cases the cops think thought can use it as an excuse to pull people over for the crime of “driving while late at night” or “driving at a time of day when alcohol is served”. Had it been any other time I would not have been pulled over.
One time I had a cop shining a flashlight in my eyes to see if my eyes were red or glassy from drinking. I had not a drop of alcohol that night.
On one occasion I got a ticket, the other times nothing. I fought the ticket the one time and got it reduced to a civil infraction (like a parking ticket).
The point is, cops generally don’t care about common sense. They have a tough job, but they don’t do themselves any favors by targeting law-abiding citizens. I think that they have too much power and not enough humility. But god knows you can’t talk back or they’ll make your life miserable, the pigs.
This is largely the end result of LAW ‘N ORDER politics mostly from the right. I’ve been told West voted for the NDAA so no pity for you.
Police exist largely for the purpose of robbing law abiding citizens.
There are, literally, thousands of laws allowing them to fine us for virtually anything they please. Most are written so as to ensure they are violated by everyone on a regular basis. All the police need to do to meet their ticket quotas is pick and choose which citizens they want to rob.
LAS said: “This is largely the end result of LAW ‘N ORDER politics mostly from the right.”
No, this is -completely- the result of unionization, the use of fines as a revenue stream, and the “team players” hiring policy in force since the 1970’s.
Oh, and you’re an idiot. Just thought you should know.
Our so called Police have replaced the Highwayman of the nth & 19th centuries who would rob people in coaches. From once proud defenders of the people who paid them against criminals to Municipal or State or Provincial tax collectors who’s Unions now call the tune.
Your money or you life!
Nope. It was the US Right that gave a pass to cop unions and also insisted that THE LAW IS THE LAW. Without real scrutiny, this gave cops excessive empowerment.
I am right and you are wrong. Just thought you should know.
PS Trudeau just won the Liberal leadership race and consequently the 2015 election.
scf…had the almost same thing happen. Going to work at a refinery,5 AM, and a sow of an RCMP pulled me over for failing to slow down at a yellow light. I just took my ticket,took some pics of the scene,and carried on.A month later,in court,(I refused to pay the $155 ticket),I produced all my evidence,and told the judge I do not have to brake,as I drive a STANDARD. The judge asked the “officer” even she knew how how standard vehicle worked. When she said no,he threw the tickie out,and when I left,he was still railing on her and the prosecutor.
I gotta – gulp — $330 ticket in Lake Louise at a 4-way stop.
Early morning, one car, me behind it on a motorcycle.
NO vehicles at the other 3 signs, none approaching, none in sight.
Basically after the vehicle ahead proceeded I rolled ahead with him and didn’t stop again after being stopped 15 feet back.
Female RCMP. The worst kind.
Another female RCMP ticketed me for 12 kms over the limit in northern BC.
She told me her parents were visiting from Germany and that they laugh at our speed limits.
I thought, ‘this looks good’.
NOT.
There was a Florida police officer that was FIRED for giving a Florida politician a warning ticket recently. For 87 in a 70 zone. The politician bitched about it and got the cop fired.
Now if I can just find the story again?
It’s institutionalized corruption. In 3rd world countries police also shake you down for cash but at least it’s possible to negotiate.
Las
Still eyes shut wide, along with pulling wax from your ears I see. It may have escaped you, but we live in Canada.Caledonia abuses. The Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal riots , plus the pass the buck attitude that prevails among the “New” Police is home grown. As is its penchant for going after Citizens rather than criminals.
What’s your point? Thanks for mentioning TO that brings up the outrageous police abuse during and after the G20.
Yeah, I’ve got one of those “war” stories as well. Residential Halifax, 0530 Monday morning and on the way to work, I got pulled over for doing a Texas stop at a 4 way red flashing intersection (it starts to work at 0600). I still don’t know where the cop was because I could see there wasn’t a vehicle in any direction. He told me I blew through a red light. While a 4 way flashing red is technically a red light (I guess), the thing that shook me up was that while I was pulled over waiting for him to run my plates or whatever they do back there, I observed another cruiser pull up behind the cop who stopped me, a paddy wagon pass by and another cruiser up the street pull over and watch this whole thing. For those not aware, at o-dark thirty there is nobody around and even Tim Horton’s are closed. Yet I see half the Halifax constabulary come over to watch me. Lucky for me all I got was a stern lecture and a warning. The whole thing had a condescending arrogant tone about it. Common sense seems to be a lost process these days.
A Texas stop for those not aware is often called a rolling stop. you don’t stop long enough to get car jacked. Also, my driving record has been blemish free since the late ’70s.
LASsie sputtered: “It was the US Right that gave a pass to cop unions…”
Yes, because the American Right is the party of socialism, unions and all that.
Is your neuron tired, LASsie? You should stop poisoning the poor thing with cheap drugs.
LAS, you and JT are both idiots. Just thought you should know in case you didn’t get the message last time. Idiot.
Funny …. I almost NEVER get forked with by cops.
Although there was the time a female Winnipeg cop pulled me over for being in the wrong neighborhood at 09:00.
Apparently … making a complete stop is reason for suspicion in indian territory.
That overzealous power broad with the giant chip on her shoulder is now a Member of Parliament.
And, once in the Commie land of McGuinty, I got the Commie Ontario Clean Air test done on the Missus’s vehicle. And I let it go at that….
A few months later, one of the Ontario Po-Po’s finest pulls her and the grocery-getter over for an expired registration tag. Clearly, I am in the wrong by failing to renew the registration and we did get a ticket.
But, do ya think this OPP gestapo dipstick would see a bit of humour in my wife’s “Bambi in the headlights look” not knowing what he was talking about? No, they are too stupid and self absorbed for any kind of humour.
We have two seasons here for the locals; dope harvesting and thieving. The OPP just don’t seem to get it.
And like some of our other psoters, I used to respect our police officers. Sadly, it’s now an us versus them approach I’m afraid.
Here is the story, “Roughly two weeks ago, Florida Highway Patrol trooper Charles Swindle was fired for “conduct unbecoming of a public employee” after he offered a state lawmaker, Rep. Charles McBurney (R-Jacksonville), a warning for doing 87 mph in a 70 mph zone. The incident reportedly occurred in November.”
Obviously the FLA troopers are not going to offer any politician a break after one of them gets fired.
Story from The Blaze dot com.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/04/01/its-not-every-day-a-state-trooper-gets-fired-for-this/
This fellow was apparently stuck in a no-win situation. Either he backs up and gets a ticket, or doesn’t pay his toll and gets a ticket. And if he sits in the toll lane and blocks it, he’ll get a ticket as well.
The law can’t proscribe every action. I’m not a lawyer, but surely a court would throw out a ticket when the authorities have not provided the driver with a legal way out.
Breaking the law is one thing. Constructing the law so that it preys on people is completely different.
The US Right was okay with cop unions why yes thank you for conceding my point Captain Ignorance.
Yes, some police make undesirable decisions when it comes to traffic violations. But which one of you cop bashers would like to be the one who has to attend a domestic dispute and the woman or the children are beaten almost to death by some drunken loser? Which one would like to be the first on the scene of a multiple car pile up with numerous serious injures and fatalities? Who wants to be the one to tell some parents that their teenage son is dead?
Many of you people are painting all police as crooked and incompetent because you don’t like getting a ticket for going through a stop sign. Well try this. OBEY THE LAW!
I for one know what a corrupt police force is all about. You guys don’t have a clue.
Blah Blah Blah
For the amount of money they’re paid BY US I’ll 1) take that job 2) expect them to do it with a smile and respect for the public.
OBEY THE LAW
Thanks for the providing an excellent example of the LAW ‘N ORDER idiotcon I was talking about earlier.
After RCMP training, I was posted to a small detachment, Turner Valley, near Calgary. I received guidance from the Corporal in charge, a very accomplished guy, and he laid down a number of maxims. 1. Never issue a speeding ticket unless the driver is exceeding 20 mph (32 kmh) over the limit…at that point he clearly knows he’s speeding and it is therefore deliberate. 2. Decide up front whether you are going to lecture the guy about his behaviour or issue a ticket, but never do both. And if you decide on the lecture, do it away from his family…he’s already humiliated enough. 3. Warning tickets are often as effective as speeding tickets.
There were others but those were the main points. I left uniform after a short tiime and specialized in various plain clothes functions, but the advice he gave me as to how to treat people with respect and compassion stayed with me.
I despair at the type of publicity currently bring given the RCMP, an organization that I spent 30 years in and love so much, because I know that 98% of the members are dedicated capable people who are being smeared in the public view by the remaining 2% who are disgracing themselves and their Force.
Well…that’s my semi-rant…..
Smitherenzes – I understand both the Soviets and Nazis stressed their victims should just OBEY THE LAW.
You see, in a republic, we actually trust citizens to the extent that they may actually protect themselves with deadly force, even if they haven’t received an opinion from a lawyer as to whether such self-defense OBEYS THE LAW.
If you haven’t noticed, cops these days frequently don’t move in on a shooter until everyone involved is DEAD. Coincidence, or a consequence of unionization? And, they risk becoming the unquestioning enforcers of an ever more corrupt ruling class when their only rule is OBEY THE LAW.
Like I say LAS, you don’t have a clue.
small c: I cannot agree it is a consequence of unionization (and by the way the RCMP is prohibited by law from unionizing). In a barricaded hostage situation, there are numerous dynamics occurring. And they often combine to create a very complex scenario. Having been involved in a number, both as a investigator as well as a commander, the interest of saving the hostages was paramount, but there was no bloody way that I would send my members into a situation where they would be slaughtered, or cause the hostages to be prematurely murdered because the criminal panicked.
In these situations we have already inserted probes into the outside wall of the house and we can guage the situation by listening to what the guy is saying.
To say that the cops don’t move in until everyone is dead is both untrue and unfair…I could quote you dozens of cases where every, including in most times the shooter, but not always, emerged alive.
I try to have respect for the cops, but when a police chief appoints himself as the Sheriff of Nottingham and uses public safety as an excuse to have ticket quotas, respect wears thin.
Sadly, Trooper Mickens represents ‘THE” evolving face of North American law enforcement: stupid, uncaring, unthinking, and unserving.
No concept of ‘There, but for the grace of God go I’ or ‘Do unto others”.
Bruce – compare the police ethic to that of an infantryman in the armed forces, and the infantryman clearly follows a higher law – witness their sacrifice over te last 100 years, frequently suffering slaughter as they answer the call of duty.
The rules of engagement for the police have grown ever looser, as well, instances of SWAT using deadly force as a first resort. Disgraceful.
Again small c: we disagree, respectfully. In Canada, of course, our equivalent to SWAT is ERT. I can tell you absolutely that the use of deadly force is the very last consideration, without question. As a commander, issuing the go-ahead to, in most cases a sniper or an assault team is a responsibility not taken lightly. Because as the guy giving the go-ahead you are vety much aware that, having reached the last resort, deploying ERT, the chances of someone being killed are probable.
I believe that the record of both Canadian police and those in the US in such situations has been exemplary, although I don’t have emprical eveidence, the instances of police authorities waiting out a situation, using a hostage negotiator and managing and defusing what started out as a volatile situation has been outstanding.
As to the slaughter reference, well I have been to more police funerals than I care to remember, but I was not about to send my people into situations prematurely where tha chances of someone being killed were high. That’s not valour on the part of a commander, it is just sheer stupidity.
I don’t think the RCMP have the respect of the same percentage of people who elected Jr. as head of Liberal party. In fact, I expect only Her Royal Highness still has respect for them.
Several years ago I said they should all be fired, top down, and a complete overall. But what would we do for men to represent us around the world in a scarlet uniform meanwhile?
They do look snazzy on guard, so all we really need is a ceremonial RCMP force to put on display at tourist destinations across Canada and embassies around the world.
Then we wouldn’t have to give them guns, tasers, and have them on traffic duty.