Official Bored at Work / Off-Topic Chat Thread II

[Mezlo]

Re: Official Bored at Work / Off-Topic Chat Thread II

I wish I could thank yellow mage's post 1000 times! LOL! silly Canadians... Serves that fool right. I hope his self-righteous ass spent a week in jail for taking up valuable time of people trying to protect this country. What a dumb prick. F him.

[Etra]

Re: Official Bored at Work / Off-Topic Chat Thread II

I wish I could thank yellow mage's post 1000 times! LOL! silly Canadians... Serves that fool right. I hope his self-righteous ass spent a week in jail for taking up valuable time of people trying to protect this country. What a dumb prick. F him.

[Fliegar]

Re: Official Bored at Work / Off-Topic Chat Thread II

The guy could have definitely been less of a prick, but it's really not a position you want to be in. I didn't really understand how the guy was making threats beyond "What are you going to do, shoot me?", and apparently pulling away from being grabbed counts as assault? I'd be confused as hell.

[Aksannyi]

Re: Official Bored at Work / Off-Topic Chat Thread II

I don't have a passport and I haven't had any trouble getting back into the States from Mexico. I'm pretty fucking white though, so maybe that has something to do with it.

It's on my list of shit to do.

[cidbahamut]

Re: Official Bored at Work / Off-Topic Chat Thread II

There's a problem when I can't trust law enforcement. Just sayin'.

[Firewind]

Re: Official Bored at Work / Off-Topic Chat Thread II

DOn't come to the UK then Cid. If anyone has ever played through Dromund Kaas in SWTOR, that is exactly what London is like, weather included. Just replace the patrol droids with police armed with automatic weapons.

[cidbahamut]

Re: Official Bored at Work / Off-Topic Chat Thread II

I see the UK as sort of the logical conclusion to what we have here in the US. It just might take us a few years longer to get there, but that's clearly where we're headed.

[Caspian]

Re: Official Bored at Work / Off-Topic Chat Thread II

Not going to make an argument for the guy or for border patrol, but I will say this: We have no idea what is physically going on outside of what they say happened. "Pulling away" could have involved pushing back as he pulled away. Body language could have played into it as well. Just like a video without audio, we're only getting half the story. It isn't entirely fair to make assumptions based on an audio file. Maybe it was more confrontational than you can gather from just the audio. Maybe they completely overreacted and the guy really didn't do anything at all. Making judgments with half the story can only lead to trouble.

That said, I still don't understand why when confronted by law enforcement, even if the officer is an ass, why some people decide to buck up and be dicks right back. When has that ever worked out for anyone? Sometimes you're screwed no matter what you say or do, but more often than not you're just going to make it worse for yourself. Even if the officer has it coming, don't be an a-hole right back. You're not going to win. Have a few friends who are cops and they all tell me the same thing: Nice people are far more likely to be let off with a warning than somehow who starts throwing attitude. In fact they say they'll usually start looking for things to tack onto a ticket if you get mouthy. Check your ego and be nice. World could definitely use a bit more of it.

[Etra]

Re: Official Bored at Work / Off-Topic Chat Thread II

That said, I still don't understand why when confronted by law enforcement, even if the officer is an ass, why some people decide to buck up and be dicks right back. When has that ever worked out for anyone? Sometimes you're screwed no matter what you say or do, but more often than not you're just going to make it worse for yourself. Even if the officer has it coming, don't be an a-hole right back. You're not going to win. Have a few friends who are cops and they all tell me the same thing: Nice people are far more likely to be let off with a warning than somehow who starts throwing attitude. In fact they say they'll usually start looking for things to tack onto a ticket if you get mouthy. Check your ego and be nice. World could definitely use a bit more of it.

If you're going to be an ass to me, I'll damn well sure be an ass right back. Just because you have a small dick (personal experience with cops only, so no real credibility to my statement outside of that) and need validation through a badge, doesn't mean you can do whatever you want. Sure, I'll get shit thrown at me for being an equally obnoxious douche, but lucky for me, I have the resources to slam whatever cop is being out of line into court.

Where am I shopping? None of your damn business.

[Aksannyi]

Re: Official Bored at Work / Off-Topic Chat Thread II

What Caspian said.

Also, for those who don't know, the words assault and battery are not interchangeable. I didn't learn this until I started working with law enforcement myself. Assault is considered any threatening manner towards someone, which may be as little as raising a fist in their direction. Aggravated assault is if there is anything that could be considered a weapon involved. Battery is the physical act of touching, striking, or throwing a projectile at someone.

Figured that may clear some up a bit, really assault is very gray. If the guy was using any sort of verbal threat, that can be assault. I figure most people just assume that assault is the same as battery, and it's not. This is one of those things I have to teach my trainees when they first come in.

[Firewind]

Re: Official Bored at Work / Off-Topic Chat Thread II

Oh the level of police corruption is pretty rampant over here. You wouldn't believe how many are on drugs or buying steroids from the dealers in exchange for them being allowed to run around freely. Then there was the entire "Plebgate" mess where the Police lead a full scale investigation and public inquiry on an Elitist and stuck up Politician, calling the Police "A bunch of plebs" and they they should "know their place" purely because he was asked to use the side entrance into Downing Street rather than using the main entrance which is essentially a military checkpoint.

It doesn't help that the Police in the UK are also highly politicised and usually end up being under the control of highly right wing parties like the Conservatives. The Police Commissioner elections that nobody agreed to, that the Conservative Government forced on the people just served to legitimise this process and now that it has happened, the Police Force in the UK will now forever be a political body.

Then there is also how brutally any sort of protest gets put down and how the Police spin non-violent protests to justify using pretty brutal force. Basically if a protest group isn't being violence, the Police WILL resort to tactics that arer basically just pissing off a mob and when the inevitable happens, uses that to spin a peaceful protest that they blew up, as a riot that should be put down swiftly.

The 2010 Student Protests were the best examples. The police basically hemmed in the crowds into tiny areas to the point where people were passing out and needing medical attention due to thousands of people being hemmed into a tiny area. They refuses food, water or medical treatment to the people who needed it due to the heat and arrested ANYONE trying to escape as a rioter. Then when it all inevitably blew up and the students tried to get free, the police spun it as a student riot and went in with full riot gear.

Then again what didn't help were the riots that happened 6 months after but again, the police handling that was a big contribution to it spreading to nationwide rioting. The Police shot a black guy on very shaky evidence, his family and friends started a protest, the police handling the protest with violence, cause the protest to go violent and it sort of snowballed into full blown rioting. The later riots were of course down to other reasons but that was the one that sparked it all off due to the police again, attempting to violently put down a peaceful protest.

There's a good reason why only those actually in Law Enforcement or Politics in the UK actually respect them. If they can't be trusted to even keep the peace or act in the public interest rather than their own interest, or actually stop being the enforcers of whatever Plotical Party happens to be controlling them, then who can be trusted?

And about Canadian visitors . . .

I found this sad because I wanted to just sit all of those guys down and ask "What the fuck is wrong with you all?"

The first two guys were being judgemental pricks, which is sadly very common among people in that line of work.

The guy being arrested needs to learn when to just shut the fuck up and stop making things worse when people in law enforcement start quoting any sort of anti-terrorism bullshit at you. In most countries it it well within your right to demand some kind of legal counsel. The guy's wife should also have stayed calm and not freaked out and made everything even worse. Yes it is bullshit when you get an officer like that but being a dick about it will NOT help you no matter who is right or wrong.

The third guy as just as judgemental as the first and made me headdesk when he started throwing around assault charges even though there is no evidence of an assault being committed. Yes while a threat of physical violence is assault, there wasn't actually a threat there.

In my line of work I deal with stuff like this and there is rarely much that can be done unless the officers were dumb enough to leave actual evidence. It is just part of life though. Sometimes you just have to "Keep Calm, Shut the Fuck Up and Carry On" as posters over here sometimes say.

[cidbahamut]

Re: Official Bored at Work / Off-Topic Chat Thread II

Assault is considered any threatening manner towards someone

That is all kinds of bullshit. Anyone can interpret anything as threatening. They could say someone complying with the officer's instructions constitutes threatening because the cop is expecting less compliance and therefor it's simply a ruse to get within striking distance.

[Aksannyi]

Re: Official Bored at Work / Off-Topic Chat Thread II

The thing is, in order for them to charge it (and I have seen this many times) there has to be witnesses and the victim must have been feeling truly threatened. But assault charges are so hard to prove if someone was actually feeling threatened. This is where aggravated assault comes in, in those cases, it's pretty easy to tell someone is threatening someone else with a weapon, but there's a distinction between just walking around with a knife in your hand and walking around with a knife and holding it up as if to use it. I have to go through all this nightly when we're reviewing our reports because things get mis-classed so often.

There are so many different ways to interpret the law. But in legal-speak, assault does not mean the same thing as battery and assault means that there was no physical contact. The threat was there, though. It is possible to verbally assault someone. I have no idea about the details of this particular case because as Caspian said, we only saw part of a video and one side of the story. However, if these guys were being threatening toward the LEO, they can and will get nabbed for assault. Especially if they were being difficult douchebags.

Also fuck you, Firefox, douchebags is too a word.

[Mezlo]

Re: Official Bored at Work / Off-Topic Chat Thread II

Listen up everyone, don't be a FUCKTARD. Police put their lives on the line every fucking day. They deserve your respect. If you chose not to give them the respect they deserve then FUCK YOU. You don't deserve a reason for why they are asking a question. They are here to protect us. If they ask you a question, you better shut the fuck up, answer their question, and show them the respect they deserve. For anyone that has a problem understanding this, FUCK YOU, GTFO.

[cidbahamut]

Re: Official Bored at Work / Off-Topic Chat Thread II

Respect is earned, not owed.