Firemen, Teachers, & Policemen

[kentuck]

Do you look at these three groups as equal public servants?

Personally, I hold teachers and firemen in higher regard than policemen. I fear that policemen are becoming the spearhead of a police state in this country.

So when the Republicans talk about destroying the unions of firemen, teachers, and policemen, I oppose their efforts to destroy the unions of all of them, although I would support less policemen on the street. Is that an anti-liberal position?

[1monster]

1. When I first moved to the area I live in now, I would see a police or sheriff's car

on the road maybe once a week. Now I see several police cars out and about every time I'm on the road -- even when I travel less than a mile.

My average commute to work is less than eight miles (although it varies). In the early days, my average commute was eighteen miles.

There are far too many cops on the street... And NEVER one around when there's a dangerous aggressive driver causing problems on the road.

[SoutherDem]

2. I know police officers do at times do bad things

I am not defending the bad they do. But, I am not sure if less police is the answer to fix the problem.

[Zalatix]

16. MORE police certainly isn't the solution.

[img][/img]

[Tuesday Afternoon]

3. teachers and firemen don't wear Fake Badges . . .

Just saying

[MADem]

5. Neither do real policemen. But GOP presidential candidates....???? nt

[Tuesday Afternoon]

8. men pose as policeman. women have been instructed to drive to the police dept if there is

any doubt. and yes, especially disgusting that the Rep nominee has done this. gross. puke and THROW UP. fucking nasty piece of work, he is.

just saying that there is not so much a reason for people to impersonate firemen and teachers

[MADem]

10. Some guys like to say they are firemen to get dates!

Or to pass themselves off as heroes...

A man has pleaded guilty to three charges of impersonating a firefighter during the recent floods.
Peter Jennings, 49, from Alvina Lane, Kirkdale, Liverpool, admitted three charges of obstructing or hindering an employee of the Fire Service during flooding in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire.
Stroud magistrates' court heard that Jennings had assumed command during the emergency and ordered fire pumps to be delivered to a pub in the beleaguered town.
The court was told that Jennings, who used to work at the Fire Service Museum at Crosby, Merseyside, travelled to Gloucestershire at the height of the flooding last week. Dressed in a fire service uniform, he turned up in Tewkesbury on July 24 and pretended to be a chief fire officer.


Read more: http://www.metro.co.uk/news/59583-man-admits-impersonating-fireman#ixzz1xPpgUpjZ

Or ROB their dates!

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (KABC) -- An Indio man has been arrested for allegedly impersonating a firefighter as a means of committing robbery and burglary.

Brandon Visyak, 24, would target women at a San Bernardino night club. To gain their trust, he would show them a California Department of Forestry badge that he unlawfully obtained.

In one incident, Visyak took one victim back to a motel room, waited for her to fall asleep and allegedly took property from the woman's purse. In a second incident, he was able to enter another woman's car without her permission and took off with her wallet.

In both cases, Visyak is accused of taking the two victims' credit cards and using them for purchases. Upon his arrest, police were able to locate the credit cards, the badge Visyak used to lure his victims and an authentic law enforcement badge from a police department located in Riverside County. Visyak has reportedly never been employed as a full-time peace officer or firefighter.


http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/inland_empire&id=8603508

It's not just men, though--women can play, too!

http://www.thesttammanynews.com/news/article_a6457400-a06c-11e1-9d58-001a4bcf887a.html

For nearly a decade and a half, 53-year-old Antonia Munici falsely portrayed herself as a professional firefighter to her friends and possible employers, Slidell police allege.
She was arrested Wednesday morning after investigators concluded Munici, of 2004 Pelican St., Slidell, had never actually been employed as a firefighter.
When confronted about the allegations, Munici admitted to the Slidell Police Department that she had carried fraudulent identification that stated she was a firefighter and had done so since the 1990s.
Detective Daniel Seuzeneau said Munici went as far as to obtain worn firefighter gear once used by actual firefighters for protection purposes while battling blazes.

A FLORIDA WOMAN HAS BEEN CHARGED with impersonating a firefighter and misuse of 9-1-1 following a nutty episode in the panhandle county of Okaloosa on Sunday morning. Sarah Barnes, 19, and her friend, both dressed in short shorts and "revealing" tops were snooping through the debris of a house that had burned down on Saturday night when they were challenged by a family member who had also shown up.
...When units from the North Okaloosa Fire Department arrived, they found no evidence of any fire or smoke coming from the debris, and the fire chief told the sheriff deputies on the scene that Barnes was not a certified firefighter.

When she phoned in her false alarm, she identified herself to the call taker as an "off-duty Baker firefighter." An official with the Baker FD confirmed that she was not a firefighter and was not authorized to be in possession of the clothing. They also added that they were acquainted with her because she had started her basic fire training on three occasions and had dropped out all three times.

http://firegeezer.com/2012/01/18/woman-arrested-for-impersonating-a-firefighter/

I was kinda surprised when I saw how frequently this happened! Who knew?

[Tuesday Afternoon]

11. yes, I thought about stuff like that after I posted...seems that the other gets more press.

and it feels more ominous when it is a police .... more of an Authority Figure.

[MADem]

13. Anyone who impersonates a public official has issues, IMO!

Or who impersonates a private person for gain--like that creep who pretended to be a Rockefeller, or that idiot who insisted he was related to Stephen Speilberg...!

It's either a deep personal failing (they have to pretend to be more important than they are for some odd reasons) or they're hell-bent on crime, or sometimes even both, it would seem!

[Tuesday Afternoon]

14. agreed. they are definitely up to NO Good...anybody that does this.

[MADem]

4. Well, I imagine that the woman who was saved by a cop from her abusive

ex-boyfriend last week would not agree with you.

A cop took a bullet responding to that call. The woman was wounded, but the child in the home was unharmed. The policeman? He died and was buried the other day.

http://www.wwlp.com/dpp/news/local/hampden/ambrose-was-a-walking-angel-charlene-mitchells-cousin-says

I liked Clinton's community policing efforts and I wish we'd get back to them. The police were part of the community, not assholes in squad cars.

[kentuck]

7. It is true...

...that not every policeman is carrying his taser like a toy to be used at the first opportunity or his new can of pepper spray which he can spray into the eyes of a totally innocent protester...

[Zalatix]

17. Community policing is one viable alternative to what we have now.

[bigtree]

6. let me ask you this

. . . are rapes, assaults, robberies, thefts, battery, a thing of the past?

If you're seeing that, you must not be from where I live. We can't keep up with the crimes enough to stop the maiming, abuses, and killings in some of our neighborhoods. I'm no expert, but I believe that less police in these areas means more violent crimes going unchallenged and unabated.

When you say 'less policemen on the street,' that just undercuts the logic in crime-plagued areas that a larger police presence serves to prevent the types of violence that devastates many neighborhoods and communities.

Confronting the 'police state' can't be accomplished by a broad-brush dismissal of the need for police in general without ignoring very real circumstances where these forces are making a positive difference. Moreover, in this collapsed economy, I'm certain many police forces aren't talking about inflating some massive presence, but just keeping themselves in operation. Their financial plight is JUST like teachers and firefighters and deserves our support.

[kentuck]

9. So, are you saying?

that every cop is needed to combat the "rapes, assaults, robberies, thefts, battery..."?

From this perspective, we are already in the midst of total anarchy.

[bigtree]

12. where did I say that, Kentuck?

Last edited Sun Jun 10, 2012, 03:09 PM - Edit history (1)

I don't think I have to repeat what I just wrote. it says nothing about needing every cop. I just observe that you only write here about abuses and are apparently content ignoring the very real need for these officers in many of our communities. I notice you brushed past their primary function, which is to prevent, resolve, and solve real crimes against folks like you and me. You are certainly correct in pointing out abuses. I'm not certain your anecdotal remarks are proof that those incidents or excesses outweigh their service mitigating the crimes that occur everyday.

Link?

[kentuck]

19. No, you asked a stupid question...

...and got a deserved answer.

[spanone]

15. let's start with congressional pensions....i dare them.

[Historic NY]

18. I was in NY city yesterday....lots of cops around..

no not the ones in riot gear. The ones walking along the lines of hundreds of tourists and citizens waiting on the streets to vist here or there. The one shepherding people with directions to their chosen destinations. The ones sitting or standing various areas watching over people go about their lives. There are reminders of 911 yet still fresh when you see a string of police cars or scooters go by. But I also saw cops doing road traffic patrol, directing traffic, supervising brownies and auxiliaries (volunteers) other interacting with people laughing and joking... I remember how it was in NY, its now cleaner & its safer. NY is a busy place and its not always about the cops you see on the news or read about in one small area of the city. These are the regular squads of street (beat) cops the ones the city could never do without, the ones that make everyday life safe & orderly.

[Zalatix]

23. And on a single command by the Plutocracy:

[img][/img]

The NYPD has the same Jeckyll-Hyde problem that all police departments have: nice one day, marauding thugs the next, depending on the orders that the power elite give them.

[kentuck]

24. Must you be so honest?

You mean they don't work for "us"?

[Zalatix]

25. The cops never did work for us.

We're just learning that the hard way now.

[magnifisense]

20. we need to term another war

We've stressed the war on women.

We also need to speak about the war on WORKERS!

The GOP has waged another war and we need to encourage the media to refer to it as the WAR ON WORKERS.

[4th law of robotics]

21. I wouldn't want to live in a society without any of those three

there are bad cops just as there are bad teachers and bad firemen.

Doesn't negate the entire concept.

[HopeHoops]

22. Most local police are outstanding. State troopers are almost always professional.

Unfortunately, they are under the ultimate command of the local authority, be it mayor, governor, or whatever is appropriate for the territory. Until they break ranks and defy orders to violate the Constitution, we're stuck with the system. That doesn't make them bad by nature, but it is an abuse of authority for the oath they took when they joined the force. Let's just keep putting flowers in the gun barrels.