Cop Down -- would you intervene?

[lovemachine]

I remember when INGO was much nicer before certain people became members...

 

[Denny347]

I'm sorry your brothers in blue are making Hoosiers' lives sadder through poor training.

Nuh-uh...I'm sorry your making your fellow INGOers sadder through poor postings.

 

[LPMan59]

 

[Shelly1582]

I shouldn't even post in here, I know better, but I have to say that there is a lack of compassion from so many directions. I'm not just talking about Cathy not wanting to help someone else who is being attacked, but you all who find nothing different about Cathy, a female being beaten by a larger male, whether in high school or not. I don't know what what school she went to but that's not just bullying it's BS. Where I grew up the only guy allowed to lay a hand on a girl was her big brother teasing her.
Personally, I feel we should all be looking out for each other to the best of our abilities. And a bit more compassion wouldn't hurt anyone either.

 

[CathyInBlue]

This thread is not about helping a random victim versus a random aggressor. This thread is specificly about a cop being bested. My problem with blindly launching into such a fray is that these guys have their own built-in back up system. They have radioes that will get that back up coming tout suite, at speeds that even my own back up, with a cell phone call, could not (legally) match.

And it might be satisfying to some that that bully who chased me down the hallway did us all a favour in pursuing a Darwin award when he wrapped his car around a tree while drunk. (He died.)

 

[IndyDave1776]

I shouldn't even post in here, I know better, but I have to say that there is a lack of compassion from so many directions. I'm not just talking about Cathy not wanting to help someone else who is being attacked, but you all who find nothing different about Cathy, a female being beaten by a larger male, whether in high school or not. I don't know what what school she went to but that's not just bullying it's BS. Where I grew up the only guy allowed to lay a hand on a girl was her big brother teasing her.
Personally, I feel we should all be looking out for each other to the best of our abilities. And a bit more compassion wouldn't hurt anyone either.

I would agree in general with two caveats. First, before I am going to wade into a fray I am going to be certain that I am joining in on the right side. Second, as Cathy has made numerous reasonable explanations, it is also imperative that you are not setting yourself up to catch the consequences rightly belonging to the aggressor you shut down. While I am not especially old (a numeral 4 hasn't come up on the left side of the number yet) I am old enough to have outgrown blind idealism both in terms of saving the day and in making assumptions about who is in fact on the right side.

 

[semperfi211]

I haven't read through any of the pages of this thread and am just answering the question "Cop down -- would you intervine?

Depends on the situation. My fear is that I could be mistaken for a bad guy. The cop has no idea who I am. Using my gun probly no. Pulling someone off the top of a cop,yes.

 

[thompal]

I would be very hesitant to skin out my gat around a cop who was just in a fight.

OK, I don't have a 'hood to English dictionary handy. Care to tell me what you just said??

 

[CathyInBlue]

skin out my gat = slap leather = skin that smoke wagon = fill your hands you son of a ***** = draw your gun

 

[Dead Duck]

Is it getting Hot in here?

I strongly suggest that Legato and Cathy - get a room.
It will do us all some good.

 

[CathyInBlue]

I think there are plenty of Dojos in town for rent. What's your martial art?

 

[jsharmon7]

If a gang of armed intruders kicked my doors in right now I could make one phone call that would bring total strangers to my aid, risking their lives to assist me. I think I owe them that in return if I should ever see one of them in need of my assistance. Lots of jobs out there will put food on the table and keep debt collectors off your back, but police officers and firefighters and medics chose their careers out of a desire to help others. I'm not saying those folks are better or braver than anybody else, just that they don't do that stuff because "it's their job."

 

[Denny347]

I love how people point fingers at us for the "us vs. them" mentality then in the same breath voluntarily push us into a "them" corner. This debate is exactly why we stick to ourselves. If I see someone getting beat, I jump in. It is my job but I am also just a guy with a moral compass to intervene. however, I cannot count on anyone helping me outside my LEO family. I know that if I can get on the radio to call for help, I will get ever officer in the area. However, if I cannot get on the radio and yell for help, I will get NOTHING. How many times do I extend my hand only to have it slapped away before I stop offering it? The stench in here is strong, lots of turds.

 

[MACHINEGUN]

It was popular to kick my ass!

I truly believe you are telling the truth!

 

[IndyDave1776]

If a gang of armed intruders kicked my doors in right now I could make one phone call that would bring total strangers to my aid, risking their lives to assist me. I think I owe them that in return if I should ever see one of them in need of my assistance. Lots of jobs out there will put food on the table and keep debt collectors off your back, but police officers and firefighters and medics chose their careers out of a desire to help others. I'm not saying those folks are better or braver than anybody else, just that they don't do that stuff because "it's their job."

I love how people point fingers at us for the "us vs. them" mentality then in the same breath voluntarily push us into a "them" corner. This debate is exactly why we stick to ourselves. If I see someone getting beat, I jump in. It is my job but I am also just a guy with a moral compass to intervene. however, I cannot count on anyone helping me outside my LEO family. I know that if I can get on the radio to call for help, I will get ever officer in the area. However, if I cannot get on the radio and yell for help, I will get NOTHING. How many times do I extend my hand only to have it slapped away before I stop offering it? The stench in here is strong, lots of turds.

I am going to start by reminding both of you that it is human nature to measure others by the image in the mirror. I don't doubt that our LEOs here took up that profession with the most noble of motives. The problem is that there are also a lot of LEOs in circulation who chose that profession as an opportunity to fuel their tendencies toward being petty tyrants and as a tool of engaging in assorted forms of malfeasance while hiding behind badges. I have seen badges pinned to far worse pieces of scum than I worked with when I worked for the Department of Correction.

There are a few LEOs in circulation for whom I would make a deliberate choice to risk my life if the situation called for it. The problem I have making a moral decision for a stranger is that for all I know a citizen could be coping with having been attacked by a mad dog with a badge, and, unfortunately, in my experience, this is the more likely possibility.

I feel bad that at times like this our LEOs would seem to be by virtue of the representatives of the profession in the conversation the recipients of flying bricks that are not directed at them personally, and they certainly don't deserve to receive. My problem is trying to be fair with you (our LEOs) and simultaneously deal honestly with my cumulative experience. In the end, this creates a gap that I am not sure how to bridge. It isn't fair to the good LEOs to assume all to be bad and inherently dangerous to assume most/all LEOs to be good, which brings me back to my previous position of hoping that I never encounter this situation involving those I don't know personally.

The other thing, going back to measuring others according to the mirror, is that it is possible to be a LEO and be insulated from the issues that are at the top of my list. I have also observed that bad officers won't last in good departments, and conversely good officers won't last in bad departments. You show me a situation in which you have dirty officers (not just an odd exception that hasn't offered up an opportunity to fire him) and I will show you a dirty department.

 

[jeremy]

I love how people point fingers at us for the "us vs. them" mentality then in the same breath voluntarily push us into a "them" corner. This debate is exactly why we stick to ourselves. If I see someone getting beat, I jump in. It is my job but I am also just a guy with a moral compass to intervene. however, I cannot count on anyone helping me outside my LEO family. I know that if I can get on the radio to call for help, I will get ever officer in the area. However, if I cannot get on the radio and yell for help, I will get NOTHING. How many times do I extend my hand only to have it slapped away before I stop offering it? The stench in here is strong, lots of turds.

Denny have little fear, if I see you about to get your ass kicked I'll be there beside you. But, know this, it is not about you having a Badge that I help. It is cause it is what a human being does....

 

[Bunnykid68]

I love how people point fingers at us for the "us vs. them" mentality then in the same breath voluntarily push us into a "them" corner. This debate is exactly why we stick to ourselves. If I see someone getting beat, I jump in. It is my job but I am also just a guy with a moral compass to intervene. however, I cannot count on anyone helping me outside my LEO family. I know that if I can get on the radio to call for help, I will get ever officer in the area. However, if I cannot get on the radio and yell for help, I will get NOTHING. How many times do I extend my hand only to have it slapped away before I stop offering it? The stench in here is strong, lots of turds.

Think about what you just said there. If you cannot count on anyone else besides the people you work with to help you, what makes you think we can count on anyone to help us either and we do not have a radio in which we can click a button and yell for help.

That being said, I am with Jeremy, a fellow person in need gets my help regardless.

 

[Denny347]

Think about what you just said there. If you cannot count on anyone else besides the people you work with to help you, what makes you think we can count on anyone to help us either and we do not have a radio in which we can click a button and yell for help.

That being said, I am with Jeremy, a fellow person in need gets my help regardless.

I still help...every one of my co workers do as well. Our job is to stick our necks out to help our fellow citizens without so much as a thank you or help in return. It happens every day. We don't know you yet we are compelled by our sense of duty to intervene. If the public doesn't want to help us...fine, I cannot make them. But we still go out of our way to assist them. It is the sad state of our community...or lack thereof.

 

[griffin]

If the public doesn't want to help us...fine

I'm betting this guy won't help. NSFW language.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdlIxi3J4ws

 

[Denny347]

What a POS. The comments to the video are depressing.