The Great Police Work Thread

NoDak

Hotlinking' sonofabitch
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
22,913
I'd like to think that you are smart enough to realize that is equipment they use during a traffic STOP, or while parked. But then I remember just who I'm thinking about here.
 

dallen

Senior Tech
Joined
Jan 1, 2000
Messages
8,466
I'd like to think that you are smart enough to realize that is equipment they use during a traffic STOP, or while parked. But then I remember just who I'm thinking about here.
I passed a cop on the Interstate last week using his laptop while driving. It definitely happens, but not sure how that makes it ok for others to use their cell phones
 

Jiggyfly

Banned
Joined
Apr 8, 2013
Messages
9,220
Weirton terminates officer who did not fire at man with gun
September 11, 2016 12:00 AM

By Sean D. Hamill / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
After responding to a report of a domestic incident on May 6 in Weirton, W.Va., then-Weirton police officer Stephen Mader found himself confronting an armed man.

Immediately, the training he had undergone as a Marine to look at “the whole person” in deciding if someone was a terrorist, as well as his situational police academy training, kicked in and he did not shoot.

“I saw then he had a gun, but it was not pointed at me,” Mr. Mader recalled, noting the silver handgun was in the man’s right hand, hanging at his side and pointed at the ground.

The man was Ronald D. “R.J.” Williams Jr., 23, of Pittsburgh, and what happened in the seconds after Mr. Mader’s initial decision is still being investigated by Mr. Williams’ family as well as the West Virginia Civil Liberties Union.

Mr. Mader, who was standing behind Mr. Williams’ car parked on the street, said he then “began to use my calm voice.”

“I told him, ‘Put down the gun,’ and he’s like, ‘Just shoot me.’ And I told him, ‘I’m not going to shoot you brother.’ Then he starts flicking his wrist to get me to react to it.

“I thought I was going to be able to talk to him and deescalate it. I knew it was a suicide-by-cop” situation.

But just then, two other Weirton officers arrived on the scene, Mr. Williams walked toward them waving his gun — later found to be unloaded — between them and Mr. Mader, and one of them shot Mr. Williams’ in the back of the head just behind his right ear, killing him.

A month-long West Virginia State Police investigation later concluded the shooting was justified, a decision the Hancock County, W.Va., prosecutor, Jim Davis, announced at a news conference on June 8.

But a case that has been handled by local law enforcement from the first day on with some peculiar twists - failing to publicly name Mr. Williams for three days, the assignment of an investigator who left for a week-long vacation the next day and tension with Mr. Williams’ family — only got more peculiar.

Mr. Mader — speaking publicly about this case for the first time — said that when he tried to return to work on May 17, following normal protocol for taking time off after an officer-involved shooting, he was told to go see Weirton Police Chief Rob Alexander.

In a meeting with the chief and City Manager Travis Blosser, Mr. Mader said Chief Alexander told him: “We’re putting you on administrative leave and we’re going to do an investigation to see if you are going to be an officer here. You put two other officers in danger.”

Mr. Mader said that “right then I said to him: ‘Look, I didn’t shoot him because he said, ‘Just shoot me.’ ”

On June 7, a Weirton officer delivered him a notice of termination letter dated June 6, which said by not shooting Mr. Williams he “failed to eliminate a threat.”

The notice of termination included two other incidents in which the city believed Mr. Mader acted improperly: An incident in April where neither he nor two other more experienced officers - the same two who were involved in the Williams’ case - reported as suspicious the death of an elderly woman who appeared to have had a stroke and fallen in her home, though no one has been charged in her death; and an incident in March when a woman complained that Mr. Mader was rude and swore at her when she asked why her husband was being arrested for disorderly conduct over receiving a parking ticket.

Mr. Mader believes he was not at fault in either situation and he was never given an opportunity to clarify what happened in each case.

The city held a termination hearing on June 29 to approve the decision, but a frustrated Mr. Mader did not attend the hearing.

When he read stories a day after he got his termination letter about how Chief Alexander said in the June 8 press conference that all three officers were back at work and doing well, Mr. Mader was incensed.

“How can you say all the officers are doing well when you just terminated one yesterday?” Mr. Mader said in a recent interview. “I think he did that just to give the public a good view of the officers.”

As for why he was fired, Mr. Mader said it seems obvious to him why that was done.

“Firing me for it, it’s less of an eyebrow-raiser then to say the other officers are justified in what they did — which I think they were.”

Why the chief told reporters, and Mr. Williams’ family in a private meeting with them a week later, that all three officers were back to work is not known.

Neither Chief Alexander, Mr. Blosser nor Mr. Davis returned calls seeking comment. The Post-Gazette was told to contact Cy Hill, an attorney representing the city, but Mr. Hill did not return repeated voicemail messages and emails.

As a former officer, Mr. Mader is all too aware of the interest this case might have for those on either side of the ongoing controversy over the shootings of black men by white officers across the country.

Mr. Mader is white and Mr. Williams was black. But Mr. Mader said the other two officers — who are also white — did the right thing given their situation.

“They did not have the information I did,” he said. “They don’t know anything I heard. All they know is [Mr. Williams] is waving a gun at them. It’s a shame it happened the way it did, but, I don’t think they did anything wrong.”


As for Chief Alexander?

“It was like [Chief Alexander] was a good guy and the next second he’s throwing me under the bus,” he said.

Jack Dolance, an attorney for the Williams’ family, said that how and why Mr. Mader was fired “is pretty clear evidence of their policy and that the way they feel [the shooting of Mr. Williams] should have been handled. Not only do they think he should have been shot and killed, but shot and killed more quickly.”

Mr. Mader, 25, thought his hiring by the city in July, 2015, in a job that would pay him about $34,000 the first year, would turn out to be a good move for him, his young family, and the city.

He grew up in Weirton, graduated from Weir High School, married his high school sweetheart five years ago, and was raising two small boys (now ages 4 and 1) in the city when he got the job after serving for four years with the Marines, including a tour in Afghanistan.

“I was definitely excited,” he said, recalling the swearing-in ceremony. “It was the challenge. I like challenges; that’s the reason I joined the Marines because they said it was the hardest branch to be in. And I was excited because it was a better opportunity for my family and I was getting a chance to be an officer in the town I grew up in.”

He is now going to school to get his commercial license to drive trucks, but he said he’d consider going back into law enforcement if a job came up.

After he received his termination notice, Mr. Mader sought attorneys to help him fight the city. He was told because he was still a probationary employee in an “at-will” state, he could be fired for any reason and there was no point in fighting the city.

One attorney told him the best he could hope for was to ask to resign instead of being terminated.

“But I told [the attorney] ‘Look, I don’t want to admit guilt. I’ll take the termination instead of the resignation because I didn’t do anything wrong,’ ” Mr. Mader said. “To resign and admit I did something wrong here would have ate at me. I think I’m right in what I did. I’ll take it to the grave.”
 

Texas Ace

Teh Acester
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
23,400
I passed a cop on the Interstate last week using his laptop while driving. It definitely happens, but not sure how that makes it ok for others to use their cell phones
Yup.

I see them driving while on those things all the time.
 

fortsbest

DCC 4Life
Joined
Apr 8, 2013
Messages
3,733
IT happens, hell, I have even been guilty of it. But, it is our source of information is we go to a call. Had a guy in FW kill his Dad last night and then as my officers were searching a back yard shed for him he shot two of them. Thankfully both were wearing vests. One would have been hit in the heart and as it is he just has a massive chest bruise. The other took several rounds, but will be ok. The MDCs (Mobile data computers) give us all the information available for a call, it's how we check records and run plates for stolen cars etc. It shouldn't be used while driving, but the fact is it happens all the time. funny thing is, in my 25 years, we have never had an accident that was caused by the MDC distraction as best I can tell.
 

townsend

Banned
Joined
Apr 11, 2013
Messages
5,377
IT happens, hell, I have even been guilty of it. But, it is our source of information is we go to a call. Had a guy in FW kill his Dad last night and then as my officers were searching a back yard shed for him he shot two of them. Thankfully both were wearing vests. One would have been hit in the heart and as it is he just has a massive chest bruise. The other took several rounds, but will be ok. The MDCs (Mobile data computers) give us all the information available for a call, it's how we check records and run plates for stolen cars etc. It shouldn't be used while driving, but the fact is it happens all the time. funny thing is, in my 25 years, we have never had an accident that was caused by the MDC distraction as best I can tell.
Most people drive really carefully around cops anyway. We're all kind of conditioned to get out of their way. Although I kind of believe that it would be really hard to prove an officer was at fault during an accident.
 

fortsbest

DCC 4Life
Joined
Apr 8, 2013
Messages
3,733
No it wouldn't. Happens all the time. And no, people don;t get out of the way or drive carefully around us. When I had to go from my house to where my officers where shot last night, I ran lights all the way. at least five times I had to slow down, get on my air horn and keep flashing my brights on and off for people to get the hell out of the way. Keep in mind I drive way ahead of my car so I was already slowing down before I got to them, but people are idiots when it comes to driving. Lights and sirens mean nothing anymore just as respect in general has waned.
 

boozeman

28 Years And Counting...
Staff member
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
121,730
Rioting in Charlotte overnight after another killing. It pisses me off that within hours the interstate is shut down, looting is happening. But of course, the first thing you hear is some moron screaming black man killed by white police, when in actuality, the officer was black. Even CNN reports the race as "unknown". Bullshit, reported locally. But the first thing on the news, literally, was "cracka killed my daddy!".
 

Jiggyfly

Banned
Joined
Apr 8, 2013
Messages
9,220
Rioting in Charlotte overnight after another killing. It pisses me off that within hours the interstate is shut down, looting is happening. But of course, the first thing you hear is some moron screaming black man killed by white police, when in actuality, the officer was black. Even CNN reports the race as "unknown". Bullshit, reported locally. But the first thing on the news, literally, was "cracka killed my daddy!".
The 1st time I saw this they said the cop was black but I agree the media is really driving a certain narrative here and it is very dangerous to all involved.

This current profit driven media is terrible.

As for the rioting and protest its currently mostly about having your turn to act out.
 

boozeman

28 Years And Counting...
Staff member
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
121,730
The 1st time I saw this they said the cop was black but I agree the media is really driving a certain narrative here and it is very dangerous to all involved.

This current profit driven media is terrible.

As for the rioting and protest its currently mostly about having your turn to act out.
That is where the message is definitely getting distorted by the media...especially the big media. It is dangerous for sure. It perpetuates hysteria by avoiding facts for the sake of a social narrative.

The local news did not exactly get it right either. That literally is what was aired with the cracka thing. Just enflaming and irresponsible. And what a coincidence that the bulk of the rioting occurred at the Walmart after they aired the remarks.
 

boozeman

28 Years And Counting...
Staff member
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
121,730
Bunch of fuckin' dumbasses freaking out in Charlotte.
 

boozeman

28 Years And Counting...
Staff member
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
121,730
This is high entertainment.

Fake socially conscious hipsters and unemployed losers getting tear gassed.
 

Cotton

One-armed Knife Sharpener
Staff member
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
119,696
Bunch of fuckin' dumbasses freaking out in Charlotte.
They just needed a reason. Bad people are bad people. We have gotten to the point that even black cops shooting black people cause riots. Simply because we keep making everything about race. We have GOT to stop talking about it in terms of race or this will never her better.
 

L.T. Fan

I'm Easy If You Are
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
21,689
They just needed a reason. Bad people are bad people. We have gotten to the point that even black cops shooting black people cause riots. Simply because we keep making everything about race. We have GOT to stop talking about it in terms of race or this will never her better.
I agree but it is going the other way. The polarization seems to get strengthened with each incident.
 

townsend

Banned
Joined
Apr 11, 2013
Messages
5,377
I agree but it is going the other way. The polarization seems to get strengthened with each incident.
Seems like the obvious solutions is to stop having incidents. If black people stop getting murdered they won't have anything to complain about.
 

Cotton

One-armed Knife Sharpener
Staff member
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
119,696
So, just heard that a protester shot and killed another protester. Yeah, that's really showing that black lives matter when you're killing each other while protesting the same thing. :picard
 

Cotton

One-armed Knife Sharpener
Staff member
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
119,696
Seems like the obvious solutions is to stop having incidents. If black people stop getting murdered they won't have anything to complain about.
 

Cotton

One-armed Knife Sharpener
Staff member
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
119,696
 

Cotton

One-armed Knife Sharpener
Staff member
Joined
Apr 7, 2013
Messages
119,696
 
Top Bottom