We've had a couple bullshit sessions at certain establishments over the past few weeks and so have a lot of other coppers we know of. Some have written us, others have commented. We go this e-mail recently. We're trimming it down considerably for space and ease of reading:
- Good morning, Just wanted to give you an idea for a post about something the bosses are now telling the po's in roll call this week. LT. [...] on 3rd watch has been preaching since the first of the year that if we do any ISR reports we are out of our minds and we are crazy. That the ACLU has been contacting people and asking them questions about why they were stopped and if the got their receipt.
It's obvious their clearly fishing to make an example of a police officer. He specifically said on more than one occasion that just being a member of a gang is not enough reasonable suspicion to conduct an Investigatory street stop (which he is 100% correct on)
This week in roll call he tells the troops that the department wants us to start doing gang dispersals. I read the g.o. on the ISR took the training and read the small white card on how to complete the gang dispersal From what I read the directions from the card on gang dispersals is a direct violation of the ISR General order. Being a gang member is not enough reasonable suspicion to conduct a street stop. Therefore to conduct a stop for a gang dispersal is a clear violation of their civil rights when a po has no reasonable belief a crime has occurred is occurring or is about to occur.
Standing on a street corner is something the ACLU has defended for years. We pretty much can't even enforce loitering restrictions due to Freedom of Assembly laws. And belonging to a gang, well, that's another ACLU trigger - Freedom of Association.
If you pull-up on the corner, those two items aren't enough to justify any sort of stop and/or frisk. Unless they're openly dealing dope or obstructing traffic (and they'd be morons if they were doing it right in front of you), what do you have? Zip. You might park a short distance away and observe them (no binoculars - that's not allowed), but this is what the ACLU, the city and the revrunds wanted.
If you're in one of the so-called "faster" districts, that radio isn't going to stop broadcasting. You've got another two jobs stacked and once the weather warms up, barely time for lunch. Your job is to patrol and that's what you'll be returning to. Maybe an ANOV for littering or pissing in the alley, maybe a mover or two you happen to see, maybe some parkers on your beat. But investigating the dope boys? No desire to be stuck doing an hour worth of paper on a stop you might spend ten minutes on. We would call it a "poor rate of return," that is to say the downside far outweighs any benefit to the individual officer. But the bosses have started up with their "numbers driven policing" again, even though they'll never actually give you a number to shut them up.
So what is the feeling here? Does the ISR order pretty much eliminate the Gang/Narcotic Loitering order as a tool to disperse hoodlums on the corners? And more importantly, does this lack of direction have a direct consequence of raising the number of homicides, since the corners are now full of targets? Did we just find De-Escalante's missing puzzle piece?
If you pull-up on the corner, those two items aren't enough to justify any sort of stop and/or frisk. Unless they're openly dealing dope or obstructing traffic (and they'd be morons if they were doing it right in front of you), what do you have? Zip. You might park a short distance away and observe them (no binoculars - that's not allowed), but this is what the ACLU, the city and the revrunds wanted.
If you're in one of the so-called "faster" districts, that radio isn't going to stop broadcasting. You've got another two jobs stacked and once the weather warms up, barely time for lunch. Your job is to patrol and that's what you'll be returning to. Maybe an ANOV for littering or pissing in the alley, maybe a mover or two you happen to see, maybe some parkers on your beat. But investigating the dope boys? No desire to be stuck doing an hour worth of paper on a stop you might spend ten minutes on. We would call it a "poor rate of return," that is to say the downside far outweighs any benefit to the individual officer. But the bosses have started up with their "numbers driven policing" again, even though they'll never actually give you a number to shut them up.
So what is the feeling here? Does the ISR order pretty much eliminate the Gang/Narcotic Loitering order as a tool to disperse hoodlums on the corners? And more importantly, does this lack of direction have a direct consequence of raising the number of homicides, since the corners are now full of targets? Did we just find De-Escalante's missing puzzle piece?
0 Comments