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You are here: Home / Organizing & Resistance / Enhanced Protest Techniques / Would Be A Shame If Something Happened To Your City There, Bill

Would Be A Shame If Something Happened To Your City There, Bill

by Zandar|  December 30, 201411:20 am| 75 Comments

This post is in: Enhanced Protest Techniques, Shitty Cops, Assholes, Decline and Fall, Flash Mob of Hate, Going Galt, The Dirty F-ing Hippies Were Right

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New York’s Finest, at their finest.

NYPD traffic tickets and summonses for minor offenses have dropped off by a staggering 94 percent following the execution of two cops — as officers feel betrayed by the mayor and fear for their safety, The Post has learned.

The dramatic drop comes as Police Commissioner Bill Bratton and Mayor Bill de Blasio plan to hold anemergency summit on Tuesday with the heads of the five police unions to try to close the widening rift between cops and the administration.

The unprecedented meeting is being held at the new Police Academy in Queens at 2 p.m., sources said.

Angry union leaders have ordered drastic measures for their members since the Dec. 20 assassination of two NYPD cops in a patrol car, including that two units respond to every call.

It has helped contribute to a nose dive in low-level policing, with overall arrests down 66 percent for the week starting Dec. 22 compared with the same period in 2013, stats show.

Citations for traffic violations fell by 94 percent, from 10,069 to 587, during that time frame.

So your brilliant, devious plan is this: you’re going to show the people who believe that the NYPD is full of power-hungry bullies and paramilitary goons what for by displaying to the country exactly how most of the collars you make are in fact wholly unnecessary exercises of petty microagression towards the citizenry you hold in open and rancorous contempt.

Okay then.  Go with that plan, guys.

The Thin Blue Line, indeed.

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Reader Interactions

75Comments

  1. 1.

    Kerry Reid

    December 30, 2014 at 11:22 am

    Crybabies In Blue

    You know, I wonder where all those people who scream about how we have to “clean house” and completely replace the staff at “failing” schools are now that the NYPD has clearly indicated that they do not wish to do the job for which they are paid by the public.

  2. 2.

    jayboat

    December 30, 2014 at 11:22 am

    Damn, if there was ever a time for a popcorn joke.

    Except that none of this is funny.

  3. 3.

    debbie

    December 30, 2014 at 11:24 am

    The New American Way: Extortion.

  4. 4.

    Corner Stone

    December 30, 2014 at 11:24 am

    you’re going to show the people who believe that the NYPD is full of power-hungry bullies and paramilitary goons by displaying the country exactly how most of the collars you make are in fact wholly unnecessary exercises of petty microagression towards the citizenry you hold in open and rancorous contempt.

    It’s almost like an article written by The Onion. “Cops determined to show they’re really nothing better than petty buggers”
    That seems like a brilliant plan, brazenly display that the NYPD is largely nothing more than a revenue source for the city, essentially stealing from the working class and poors, to pay for amenities for the wealthy.

  5. 5.

    JPL

    December 30, 2014 at 11:26 am

    Wow…

  6. 6.

    Corner Stone

    December 30, 2014 at 11:26 am

    including that two units respond to every call.

    Who the F do they think is going to approve for the funds necessary to accomplish this level of staffing and/or overtime?

  7. 7.

    lol

    December 30, 2014 at 11:27 am

    Keep waiting to hear from all the good cops that people keep assuring me are in the NYPD.

    Oh, they’ve been intimidated into silence through threats of violence or worse?

    Weird. I guess nothing to see here.

  8. 8.

    gussie

    December 30, 2014 at 11:27 am

    Seriously, what’s the downside here? Just the loss of revenue? The theory is that Windows will get Broken, and serious crimes will skyrocket?

  9. 9.

    Luther Siler

    December 30, 2014 at 11:27 am

    The REALLY awesome part will come when the mayor runs for reelection on the massive reduction in the crime rate.

  10. 10.

    Jasmine Bleach

    December 30, 2014 at 11:28 am

    Damn, you mean low-level arrests and citations have fallen by that amount and the city and population are still operating in a non-dysfunctional state?!?

    I think I see where some cost savings for the city can be had . . . the data show that you can reduce low-level policing by 66%-94% and still have things work!

  11. 11.

    charluckles

    December 30, 2014 at 11:28 am

    At least they aren’t snow plow drivers or sanitation workers. People might be angry.

  12. 12.

    TFinSF

    December 30, 2014 at 11:29 am

    Fire them all. Hire new ones. Maybe screen out anyone displaying signs they might be an asshole this time. Granted, it may take a while to restaff, but better understaffed than staffed with useless assholes.

  13. 13.

    SatanicPanic

    December 30, 2014 at 11:29 am

    Citations for traffic violations fell by 94 percent, from 10,069 to 587, during that time frame.

    I mean, I guess city hall will get annoyed by having to divert money from somewhere else, but otherwise this is an amazing case of shooting their own feet.

  14. 14.

    Corner Stone

    December 30, 2014 at 11:32 am

    Sergeants Benevolent Association President Ed Mullins told The Post he’s glad de Blasio is meeting with the unions, but worries that it’s just a publicity stunt.

    “I’m disappointed in the issuance of a press release announcing the meeting, which now raises concerns of sincerity,” he said.

    “Is this about politics or is it about working through problems?”

    The fucking balls on these guys. What a clown.

  15. 15.

    japa21

    December 30, 2014 at 11:33 am

    I was going to ask if the NYPD realized how much like jerks they look to the world at large, and then I realized they just don’t care how they look or what people think of them.

    Since, in their minds, all non-police are inferior beings (except the 1%) those opinions don’t matter.

  16. 16.

    SatanicPanic

    December 30, 2014 at 11:33 am

    @Corner Stone: hehehehehehe I guess turning their backs on him at a funeral was “working through problems?”

  17. 17.

    Howard Beale IV

    December 30, 2014 at 11:36 am

    Anybody else catch that number? FIVE Police Unions?

  18. 18.

    Corner Stone

    December 30, 2014 at 11:39 am

    Also from the linked article:
    “The Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association has warned its members to put their safety first and not make arrests “unless absolutely necessary.”
    I’m as big a supporter of unions as you’re likely to find on this blog, and pretty much anywhere else, but this isn’t about a company dock that won’t rectify unsafe working conditions in their warehouse. Even in those situations you can be punished or fined for any actions deemed as “work slowdown”, unless a strike is called.
    I don’t see how city leaders can let any of this stand.

  19. 19.

    Couldn't Stand the Weather

    December 30, 2014 at 11:40 am

    Back in the day, I ran into some charming members of the constabulary of Richmond. They behaved in a borderline racist fashion, surprising no one.

    Dealing with Virginia cops is a cakewalk compared to St. Louis, Missouri, Cleveland, Ohio and New York.

  20. 20.

    Amir Khalid

    December 30, 2014 at 11:40 am

    Just curious: what is the revenue lost to New York City from these tickets not issued and fines not assessed? Are these cops required to make a quota, like their drug-squad colleagues must with arrests?

  21. 21.

    Citizen_X

    December 30, 2014 at 11:42 am

    @gussie: There’ll be graffiti! Pants will sag! Wiseass kids will mouth off! Don’t you care?

  22. 22.

    Corner Stone

    December 30, 2014 at 11:42 am

    @Howard Beale IV:

    FIVE Police Unions?

    Exactly the same as the number of points on a pentagram! Is that you, Satan?

  23. 23.

    GregB

    December 30, 2014 at 11:43 am

    The Thin Blue Whine.

  24. 24.

    Amir Khalid

    December 30, 2014 at 11:44 am

    @Howard Beale IV:
    One for patrol officers (the one headed by Pat Lynch), one for sergeants, one for detectives, one for lieutenants, and one for captains. I am as mystified by that as you are.

  25. 25.

    Corner Stone

    December 30, 2014 at 11:45 am

    @Citizen_X:

    There’ll be graffiti! Pants will sag! Wiseass kids will mouth off! Don’t you care?

    It’s almost as horrifying as the picture painted by the article Atrios links to today.
    “With audible murmurs of “This is no way to live,” “What the hell am I doing here—I hate it here,” and “Fuck this place. Fuck this horrible place,” all 8.4 million citizens in each of the five boroughs packed up their belongings and told reporters they would rather blow their brains out with a shotgun than spend another waking moment in this festering cesspool of filth and scum and sadness.”

  26. 26.

    Jasmine Bleach

    December 30, 2014 at 11:46 am

    @Corner Stone:

    Also from the linked article:
    “The Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association has warned its members to put their safety first and not make arrests “unless absolutely necessary.”

    I dunno–I’m kind of all for not making arrests “unless absolutely necessary.” I suppose it all becomes rather subjective at that point, but really, the number of people we have in prisons and jails in this country is abhorrent, and probably half (e.g., drug possession charges) are unnecessary.

    I’m half inclined to let them go for it, get the NYPD out of people’s faces on the street, and see what happens. If things go along pretty much as they have been without much change in levels of crime, lay off 66% of them and call it done.

  27. 27.

    Kerry Reid

    December 30, 2014 at 11:46 am

    @GregB: I hate myself for not coming up with that. Bravo!

  28. 28.

    Jasmine Bleach

    December 30, 2014 at 11:47 am

    @Howard Beale IV:

    Anybody else catch that number? FIVE Police Unions?

    Maybe one for each borough?

  29. 29.

    SatanicPanic

    December 30, 2014 at 11:48 am

    @Jasmine Bleach: Isn’t this an admission that they’re making unnecessary arrests?

  30. 30.

    Gin & Tonic

    December 30, 2014 at 11:50 am

    @TFinSF: Just curious, did you support Reagan doing that with PATCO?

  31. 31.

    Roger Moore

    December 30, 2014 at 11:53 am

    @Amir Khalid:
    You can have conflicts of interest when a union includes both managers and the people they’re managing, so it makes at least some sense to keep the higher level officers in a different union from the lower level ones. I don’t know if it makes sense to have quite as many as they do, but some separation makes sense.

  32. 32.

    Corner Stone

    December 30, 2014 at 12:00 pm

    @Jasmine Bleach:

    I dunno–I’m kind of all for not making arrests “unless absolutely necessary.” I suppose it all becomes rather subjective at that point, but really, the number of people we have in prisons and jails in this country is abhorrent, and probably half (e.g., drug possession charges) are unnecessary.

    Couple of points there 1) I agree to an extent, but it should be driven by a sane policing policy, not petty BS spite in an unauthorized work stoppage and 2) it makes one wonder if they even realize that after people notice they can go about their day without being hassled for petty BS, they might really freakin resent it when the “normal” levels resume.

  33. 33.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    December 30, 2014 at 12:02 pm

    Blasio can have his Reagan moment – call in the National Guard and fire every single police officer, status not eligible for rehire. I would without hesitation.

    I am no union buster but this is a union whose successors will need to have a forceful reminder of who it is they actually work for.

  34. 34.

    Hungry Joe

    December 30, 2014 at 12:03 pm

    “Make no unnecessary arrests”!? Finally, something positive comes out of all this: a great motto. They should stencil it on their patrol cars and stamp it on their badges.

  35. 35.

    Roger Moore

    December 30, 2014 at 12:10 pm

    @Corner Stone:

    it makes one wonder if they even realize that after people notice they can go about their day without being hassled for petty BS, they might really freakin resent it when the “normal” levels resume.

    The point, though, is that the people who were being regularly hassled by NYPD are already up in arms about it; they don’t need a work slowdown to realize that they’re subject to petty harassment. The people who don’t have a problem with the way NYPD has been policing are unlikely to see much effect. The only way they’ll hear about it is on the news, which will very likely blame any serious crime on the police situation but somehow twist it around to make it de Blasio’s fault for failing to kowtow to the police

  36. 36.

    Amir Khalid

    December 30, 2014 at 12:11 pm

    @Roger Moore:
    I was thinking, “one for patrol officers in the streets, one for sergeants at their desks” etc. had a kind of Tolkien-ish ring to it.

  37. 37.

    Corner Stone

    December 30, 2014 at 12:23 pm

    @Roger Moore: I think there is probably a good chunk of citizenry that will take notice on this. The city wasn’t driving revenue exclusively off the backs of the poors, because the poors have no assets to extort. So, IMO, there is a non-insignificant cohort that might possibly be moved to action as a result of these decisions by the NYPD.

  38. 38.

    El Caganer

    December 30, 2014 at 12:24 pm

    @Corner Stone: So instead of making arrests, they’re just going to shoot people? Sounds like a plan!

  39. 39.

    Roger Moore

    December 30, 2014 at 12:27 pm

    @Amir Khalid:
    I am acutely aware of the dangers of a union representing different levels within an organization because I’ve been having problems with it myself. Divide and conquer is an old union busting trick, and having multiple levels of the organization in a single union makes it way too easy. It’s a big problem with the Wobblies’ idea of one big union.

  40. 40.

    mtiffany

    December 30, 2014 at 12:29 pm

    Citations for traffic violations fell by 94 percent, from 10,069 to 587, during that time frame.

    587? 587? The cops wrote 587 citations for traffic violations in that time period?!?!?!

    I always suspected NYC was full of bad drivers, but 587? I didn’t think were that many…

  41. 41.

    Shalimar

    December 30, 2014 at 12:40 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: I know I didn’t, even though I was far less pro-union than I am now. Mainly because I was 13 and naively thought Teamsters was just a synonym for gangsters and unions were incredibly corrupt. No, I was sure that such a safety-critical job shouldn’t have every single person be learning from scratch at the same time.

    Even though there didn’t turn out to be an increase in crashes after we replaced all the air traffic controllers, and even though I don’t trust police at all to protect me from anything and don’t think 90% of what they do is critical, I still don’t think it wouldn’t be practical or appropriate to replace all the NYPD though I have a knee-jerk sympathy with the idea.

    What worries me more than anything is the Jerad Miller situation. He thought he was the vanguard of a revolution against government by killing police officers. I think it is far more likely that any real rebellion will be led by police, and we are beginning to see that develop in New York.

  42. 42.

    chopper

    December 30, 2014 at 12:41 pm

    It has helped contribute to a nose dive in low-level policing

    like hassling people for selling loosies? a little late there, fellas.

  43. 43.

    chopper

    December 30, 2014 at 12:42 pm

    if i were the mayor, i’d use this as an excuse to slash the NYPDs budget. fuck em.

    hey, if we’re gonna stop doing low-level policing and enforcing traffic laws, we don’t need so many cops amirite?

  44. 44.

    Shalimar

    December 30, 2014 at 12:45 pm

    @El Caganer: They always shoot people. Now, under their new and improved plan, there will be multiple dashboard and body cams at the scene of each police shooting. So even more equipment that mysteriously is never turned on.

  45. 45.

    ChrisNbama

    December 30, 2014 at 12:50 pm

    Actually it is pretty brilliant. Lack of citations impacts city coffers. How much revenue is the city losing due to bullshit citations not being issued?

  46. 46.

    El Caganer

    December 30, 2014 at 12:52 pm

    @ChrisNbama: Probably enough so it can’t give cops a raise in their next contract.

  47. 47.

    JerryN

    December 30, 2014 at 12:52 pm

    Not sure that I buy the numbers (after all, it is the NY Post). The NYPD has a separate traffic division that writes the bulk of the tickets for parking violations, illegal turns, etc. That division is staffed with agents, not officers, and the only weapons they carry are a scanner for the registration stickers and a ticket book.

  48. 48.

    Patricia Kayden

    December 30, 2014 at 12:53 pm

    If a police temper tantrum slowdown (or whatever this is) leads to less Blacks being killed by them, I’m okay with that. Murdering someone for selling loose cigarettes is beyond the pale. They need to understand that.

  49. 49.

    Kristin

    December 30, 2014 at 1:15 pm

    I guess it’s time for a big layoff!

  50. 50.

    The Other Bob

    December 30, 2014 at 1:17 pm

    @Hungry Joe:

    How about “No unnecessary killing.” That we could all agree on.

  51. 51.

    Mnemosyne

    December 30, 2014 at 1:25 pm

    @Shalimar:

    It is possible to turn a police department around, though it takes a shitload of work and a couple of decades. LAPD is surprisingly professional now — we had major protests over the shooting of a local man soon after Ferguson and protests over the lack of a indictment in Mike Brown’s killing and we had no police riot. They let people peacefully protest as long as they didn’t block traffic and didn’t bring in the riot gear or rubber bullets. I have a couple of links in the thread above.

    I say “surprisingly professional” because I lived here during the 1992 riots, when then-Chief Daryl Gates decided that if people were pissed at LAPD, then LAPD would stay inside and prove that the city really needed them. That worked out about as well as it works when you decide to ignore your ex-lover to prove they really miss you. I never imagined in a million years that LAPD would be able to turn themselves around and become a professional police department rather than an occupying force, but they seem pretty firmly on that road (though they’re not quite there yet).

  52. 52.

    Corner Stone

    December 30, 2014 at 1:25 pm

    @El Caganer:

    So instead of making arrests, they’re just going to shoot people? Sounds like a plan!

    And charge the family for the bullets.
    Profit!

  53. 53.

    TFinSF

    December 30, 2014 at 1:26 pm

    @Gin & Tonic: I was five when that happened. So, yes, strong Reagan backer at that age.

  54. 54.

    mclaren

    December 30, 2014 at 1:57 pm

    Have you people finally realized that the police-military-prison-surveillance-torture complex runs America?

    Are you people waking up to the fact that the civilians are no longer in charge?

    After 9/11, the police and the military took over in a soft coup. Now they’re flexing their muscles.

    This is the way it is, people. Civilians don’t have a say in the new post-9/11 security state.

    You’re not in charge, the muggers with badges are.

  55. 55.

    mclaren

    December 30, 2014 at 2:03 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    It is possible to turn a police department around, though it takes a shitload of work and a couple of decades. LAPD is surprisingly professional now…

    Are you drunk, Mnemosyne? Or are you just high on LSD?

    Timeline of the LAPD Rampart Division scandal.

    Yes, Mnemosyne, framing innocent people for drug and firearm possession and stealing cash from drug dealers and drugs from the evidence lockup is one hell of a “reform.”

    The LAPD is a group of thieving corrupt goons only different from the drug dealers and gang members they shoot and arrest by being a larger gang, better armed.

  56. 56.

    Mnemosyne (iPad Mini)

    December 30, 2014 at 2:11 pm

    @mclaren:

    Tell me, mclaren, what year do you think it is right now? When I say it takes a couple of decades to start to turn things around, can you do some simple math to figure out when the Rampart scandal broke and when the last set of prosecutions occurred? Just round numbers will do.

  57. 57.

    Carnacki

    December 30, 2014 at 2:12 pm

    The Thinskin Blue Line

  58. 58.

    Mnemosyne (iPad Mini)

    December 30, 2014 at 2:21 pm

    @mclaren:

    Fatal LAPD Pursuit Shooting Not Justified, Chief Beck Says
    http://abc7.com/news/fatal-lapd-pursuit-shooting-not-justified-chief-beck-says-/423090/

    Obviously same as it ever was. Because LAPD has a history of looking at officer-involved shootings in an unbiased way and saying that they thought certain ones were unjustified, amirite?

  59. 59.

    Mike in NC

    December 30, 2014 at 2:24 pm

    Way too many cops in this country. We live in a small town of about 3000 (off season population) and every day I’m on the road I can see town police cars, county sheriff cars, and state trooper cars. No doubt they all have quotas to fill.

  60. 60.

    Laertes

    December 30, 2014 at 2:36 pm

    Mnemosyne: “LAPD used to suck. They’re better now.”

    mclaren: (quick bit of Googling)

    mclaren: “Hey, here’s a link about an LAPD thing I just learned about today! I haven’t read enough to understand that this all went down a decade and a half ago! I’m going to post it with a really snotty tone, making it utterly impossible to walk back when someone notices my obvious error!”

    Mnemosyne: “Rather proves my point, don’t you think?”

    mclaren: (limps away in silence)

    gallery: (cheers)

  61. 61.

    Patricia Kayden

    December 30, 2014 at 2:36 pm

    @Mnemosyne (iPad Mini): I have to wonder if the victim being White made a difference. Just saying.

  62. 62.

    mclaren

    December 30, 2014 at 2:40 pm

    @Mike in NC:

    Way too many cops in this country. We live in a small town of about 3000 (off season population) and every day I’m on the road I can see town police cars, county sheriff cars, and state trooper cars. No doubt they all have quotas to fill.

    Now this is insightful — but take the next step and ask yourself why you see so many police cars everywhere, writing tickets and arresting people (where they’ll be charged for their stay in jail per diem as well as fined) and doing asset forfeiture.

    The reason you’re seeing cops swarm like locusts to write tickets and forfeit assets is because revenues in cities and towns and states across America have collapsed. With the advent of the new oligarchy and the global financial meltdown of 2008-9, the American middle class has been crushed and as a result people can’t afford to pay property taxes (they’ve lost their homes and moved into tiny apartments) and can’t afford to buy boats or expensive new cars (which would keep those licensing fees rolling in) and they can’t afford to buy big-ticket items like stoves or refrigerators or giant-screen TVs (which would keep those state and city tax revenues rolling in).

    So all of America is now in the same boat as Ferguson, Missouri — revenues have crashed, and the only way to make enough income for the city or county or state to survive is to extort cash from the citizenry by using police as a glorified protection racket.

    Plenty of businesses and governments furloughed workers this year, but Hawaii went further — it furloughed its schoolchildren. Public schools across the state closed on 17 Fridays during the past school year to save money, giving students the shortest academic year in the nation.

    Many transit systems have cut service to make ends meet, but Clayton County, Ga., a suburb of Atlanta, decided to cut all the way, and shut down its entire public bus system. Its last buses ran on March 31, stranding 8,400 daily riders.

    Even public safety has not been immune to the budget ax. In Colorado Springs, the downturn will be remembered, quite literally, as a dark age: the city switched off a third of its 24,512 streetlights to save money on electricity, while trimming its police force and auctioning off its police helicopters.

    There are some lovely photos accompanying the article, including one showing what a darkened street in Colorado looks like as a result of not being able to afford street lights. Read the article to revel in the details of this widespread misery. Meanwhile, the tiniest sliver of the wealthiest — the ones who caused these problems in the first place — continues to thrive. Let’s recall what former IMF Chief Economist Simon Johnson said last year in The Atlantic about what happens in under-developed and developing countries when an elite-caused financial crisis ensues:

    Squeezing the oligarchs, though, is seldom the strategy of choice among emerging-market governments. Quite the contrary: at the outset of the crisis, the oligarchs are usually among the first to get extra help from the government, such as preferential access to foreign currency, or maybe a nice tax break, or — here’s a classic Kremlin bailout technique — the assumption of private debt obligations by the government. Under duress, generosity toward old friends takes many innovative forms. Meanwhile, needing to squeeze someone, most emerging-market governments look first to ordinary working folk — at least until the riots grow too large.

    The real question is whether the American public is too apathetic and trained into submission for that to ever happen.

    UPDATE: It’s probably also worth noting this Wall St. Journal article from last month — with a subheadline warning: ”Back to Stone Age“ – which describes how “paved roads, historical emblems of American achievement, are being torn up across rural America and replaced with gravel or other rough surfaces as counties struggle with tight budgets and dwindling state and federal revenue.” Utah is seriously considering eliminating the 12th grade, or making it optional. And it was announced this week that “Camden [New Jersey] is preparing to permanently shut its library system by the end of the year, potentially leaving residents of the impoverished city among the few in the United States unable to borrow a library book free.”

    Does anyone doubt that once a society ceases to be able to afford schools, public transit, paved roads, libraries and street lights — or once it chooses not to be able to afford those things in pursuit of imperial priorities and the maintenance of a vast Surveillance and National Security State — that a very serious problem has arisen, that things have gone seriously awry, that imperial collapse, by definition, is an imminent inevitability?

    Source: ” What collapsing empire looks like: Cities are forced to turn off streetlights and slash school days while the wealthy thrive and wars drone on,” Glenn Greenwald, 6 August 2010.

    Cities and states are so desperate they’re doing crazy things like selling off their parking meters to private companies and trying to sell public freeways to foreign combines that want to turn ’em into toll roads. Cities are tearing up their roads and repaving ’em with gravel because they can’t afford the upkeep. Cities are shutting down their streetlights and ending their bus service because it costs too much to keep the fucking streetlights lit.

    “I was in a meeting where a bunch of American investment bankers were trying to sell us the Pennsylvania Turnpike,” he said. “They even had a slide show. They were showing these Arabs what a nice highway we had for sale, what the toll booths looked like . . .”

    I dropped my fork. “The Pennsylvania Turnpike is for sale?”

    He nodded. “Yeah,” he said. “We didn’t do the deal, though. But, you know, there are some other deals that have gotten done. Or didn’t you know about this?”

    As it turns out, the Pennsylvania Turnpike deal almost went through, only to be killed by the state legislature, but there were others just like it that did go through, most notably the sale of all the parking meters in Chicago to a consortium that included the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, from the United Arab Emirates.

    There were others: A toll highway in Indiana. The Chicago Skyway. A stretch of highway in Florida. Parking meters in Nashville, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, and other cities. A port in Virginia. And a whole bevy of Californian public infrastructure projects, all either already leased or set to be leased for fifty or seventy-five years or more in exchange for one-off lump sum payments of a few billion bucks at best, usually just to help patch a hole or two in a single budget year.

    America is quite literally for sale, at rock-bottom prices, and the buyers increasingly are the very people who scored big in the oil bubble. Thanks to Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley and the other investment banks that artificially jacked up the price of gasoline over the course of the last decade, Americans delivered a lot of their excess cash into the coffers of sovereign wealth funds like the Qatar Investment Authority, the Libyan Investment Authority, Saudi Arabia’s SAMA Foreign Holdings, and the UAE’s Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.

    Read Matt Taibbi’s Griftopia.

  63. 63.

    JaneE

    December 30, 2014 at 2:58 pm

    They are not going to fire the entire force, but they should. Call in the national guard to police the streets until a new set can be hired. Turn investigation over to other departments in the state or call in Federal help. And make sure that the psych tests are used to weed out the unstable or worse. Let the union try to prove in court that they are not already in breech by refusal to work, and refusal to respect the chain of command, not to mention demanding blanket immunity for crimes committed by their members. And put the ones who did break the law in jail, with the other criminals. Sometimes the police are justified in using force, even lethal force. Sometimes the amount of force is questionable, and maybe it was actually justified. But sometimes the force cannot be justified at all. Those cases should be as repugnant to the police as they are to the general public, but that is not the case in NYPD.

  64. 64.

    Mnemosyne (iPad Mini)

    December 30, 2014 at 2:58 pm

    @Patricia Kayden:

    I wouldn’t be surprised, unfortunately, but it certainly wasn’t the first time the LAPD shot a white person, and up until now, they always claimed those shootings were justified, too. So it actually is a hopeful sign that they’re starting to change.

    I’ll be very curious to see what Chief Beck has to say about the autopsy report that was released yesterday — he’ll probably wait until after the holiday since our local activists are understandably worked up about the St. Louis and NYC grand juries and were out protesting the autopsy yesterday. The finding that one of the three shots occurred with the muzzle pressed against the victim’s back looks really, really bad and is going to be very tough to sweep under the rug with no discipline to the officers.

  65. 65.

    Heliopause

    December 30, 2014 at 3:13 pm

    Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit selling loosies and piss in public in NYC.

  66. 66.

    Bill

    December 30, 2014 at 3:22 pm

    It has helped contribute to a nose dive in low-level policing, with overall arrests down 66 percent for the week starting Dec. 22 compared with the same period in 2013, stats show.

    Isn’t this a positive development?

  67. 67.

    mclaren

    December 30, 2014 at 3:36 pm

    @Laertes:

    Laertes makes a fool of himself by claiming I didn’t know about the LAPD Rampart scandal from the moment it happened back in 1997. Everyone laughs in disbelief.

    Mnemosyne: It was only a few bad apples in the LAPD! They’re totally professional!

    Laertes: Genius argument! “Only a few bad apples!” That’s so breathtakingly original, it’s sure to win the day! Watch as mclaren slinks away, never to be heard of again!

    Meanwhile…

    …when a chilling surveillance video surfaced last August of a mother and nurse in her mid-30s being brutally slammed to the pavement during what should have been a routine traffic stop, [LAPD police chief] Beck wasted no time trying to preserve whatever goodwill the LAPD had garnered.

    Michelle Jordan was pulled over for a cellphone violation by two police officers. When she allegedly defied their commands to remain in her car, they responded by beating her, leaving her bloodied and bruised. The officers then exchanged a congratulatory fist bump.

    Source: “After Dorner: How the LAPD Has Covered Up Its Bad Behavior: The LAPD is supposed to have cleaned up its act under the tenure of Police Chief Charlie Beck. But his record is rife with denials and whitewashes,” The Nation, 26 March 2013.

    Yes, nothing says “professional police force” like the LAPD beating a woman to a pulp during a routine traffic stop and then giving each other a fist bump. When civilians think of the word “professional policing,” the first thing that comes to mind is shooting hundreds of rounds at innocent women delivering newspapers during the crazed out-of-control manhunt for Christopher Dorner.

    The Los Angeles Police Department remains in full damage control mode following its wild manhunt; on March 14, the city announced it would pay $40,000 to two women who were delivering newspapers when their truck was sprayed with police bullets. Between Dorner’s rambling manifesto and the LAPD’s intemperate response, many city residents fear it is the return of an ugly LAPD from another age.

    Mnemosyne: Okay, it was a year ago! A year! But only a few more bad apples! Hundreds of bad apples!

    A spate of incidents in which Los Angeles police officers are under investigation for use of excessive force is threatening to erode the Police Department’s hard-won efforts over several years to bolster community relations.

    Video in recent weeks has captured officers punching a handcuffed suspect and slamming a restrained woman to the ground. In the third case, a woman stopped breathing in the back of a police car and later died.

    The incidents come after years of reforms by the LAPD to improve its officers’ conduct [as the result of a court order].

    Source: “LAPD Violent Arrests: Recent Spate Of Controversies Could Harm Goodwill Efforts,” 25 October 2012.

    And then there’s the charming LAPD Officers Luis Valenzuela, James Nichols Accused Of Forcing Women To Have Sex” 4 January 2013.

    Yes, nothing says “professional policing” like officers demanding sex from a woman they’ve stopped on the freeway.

    Dozens of anti-gang police officers across the city are quitting their assignments over a requirement to reveal personal financial information under strict anti-corruption rules, The Associated Press has learned.

    Gang units in some of the city’s most violent neighborhoods are being left with multiple vacancies, with officers choosing instead to work regular patrol shifts, Assistant Chief Earl Paysinger said Monday.

    Source: “Los Angeles gang police quit over financial rules,” 10 January 2011.

    So let’s see…the LAPD is so corrupt and so violent that it took a court order to get them to change their behavior.

    Whoops.

    And after that court order? Well, aside from the officers beating innocent women and high-fiving one another, or demanding sex from women they stop for traffic violations, or quitting the gang units because financial disclosure laws would reveal the bribes they took and the cash they ripped off from drug dealers, there’s the little matter of theLAPD systematically mislabeling crimes to artificially reduce the crime statistics:

    Back in August, an investigation by the LA Times’ Joel Rubin and Ben Poston found that the LAPD mislabeled close to 1,200 violent crimes as minor offenses, significantly altering the city’s crime statistics.

    Looks like the LAPD hasn’t reformed itself at all. It’s still a bunch of racist superviolent thugs and thieves and liars.

    But then everyone who grew up in South California knows that. Everyone knows you don’t go out in HelL.A. after 10 p.m. at night because that’s when all the bad cops, the really vicious corrupt thug cops that the city won’t fire but dumps on the graveyard shift, wolfpack, and that’s when the innocent civilians wind up face-down on the asphalt with a clean piece planted on them that the LAPD goons stole from a drug dealer after ripping off his stash.

    It’s common knowledge. Drive in HelL.A. after 10 at night, and you’re taking your life in your hands — because of the corrupt thuggish LAPD.

    Hey, Mnemosyne — keep bleating “that was years ago” and “it’s only a few (dozen) [hundred] {thousand} bad apples in the LAPD!”

    Everyone’s laughing at you too hard to pay attention anymore.

  68. 68.

    mclaren

    December 30, 2014 at 3:39 pm

    @JaneE:

    Call in the national guard to police the streets until a new set can be hired.

    Seriously. New York City is in a state of emergency if its paid police refuse to enforce the law.

    Declare a state of emergency, call in the National Guard to handle policing, fire the entire NYPD and hire new people.

  69. 69.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    December 30, 2014 at 3:47 pm

    @Heliopause:

    You sell piss?! There’s a market for that?

  70. 70.

    NJ_Cher

    December 30, 2014 at 5:23 pm

    @Citizen_X: Pants will sag? OMD! I can’t take it!!!

  71. 71.

    chopper

    December 30, 2014 at 6:17 pm

    @mclaren:

    Laertes makes a fool of himself by claiming I didn’t know about the LAPD Rampart scandal from the moment it happened back in 1997. Everyone laughs in disbelief.

    well, we’re laughing anyway.

  72. 72.

    Snarki, child of Loki

    December 30, 2014 at 7:40 pm

    “There is no right to strike against the public safety by anybody, anywhere, any time.”

    Said by some commie-liberal “Cal” somethingoranother.

  73. 73.

    paradoctor

    January 1, 2015 at 5:16 am

    The difference between a law enforcement officer and a peace officer is that a law enforcement officer makes an arrest whenever possible, and a peace officer makes an arrest only if necessary.

    Is the NYPD flouncing its way to the peace-officer model?

Comments are closed.

Trackbacks

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    […] in open and rancorous contempt. Okay then. Go with that plan, guys. The Thin Blue Line, indeed. https://balloon-juice.com/2014/12/30/would-be-a-shame-if-something-happened-to-your-city-there-bi… ……their antics in the face of criticism proves in living color what we see in so many […]

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    December 31, 2014 at 3:25 pm

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