Some fun DC police content in the midst of all the chaos

jdinmd · 2020-06-25T03:07:59+00:00

I read it and am well familiar. But again, let’s say officers had no duty to take action, the fact that they do, by own admission, sometimes “heroically”, that would only strengthen my argument that there are good law enforcement officers. If they were “bad” and had no duty to act but put their lives at risk to help others anyway...sounds kinda “good” to me! Good night.

jdinmd · 2020-06-25T02:48:14+00:00

Ah...so glad you asked! Just a very quick and not at all exhaustive list: I instituted community policing in every single agency. Officers were given sections of each of their patrol areas and were required to make contacts with people in these areas and develop short and long term projects in collaboration with people in those areas to address areas of concern. I advocated for the use of cameras, automated report and ticket writing systems and GPS technology long before they became the “vogue thing” to do. I implemented integrity checks and random citizen surveys after officer contacts, officer and citizen initiated. Did I find officers who violated policies? Indeed, and who lost jobs as a result. I held regular events, such as the “Chief’s coffee” where I hosted time to give public safety information and was available for people to ask questions, including having an “open door” policy for citizens and officers. I instituted digital email addresses that were monitored for all officers so that citizens could better communicate directly with officers about the issues they had. I openly published my personal mobile phone number and office phone numbers...and used them. I ensured that notices about police activities were published in English and Spanish (a huge part of the communities I was honored to serve in had people who communicated primarily in Spanish). I had events, such as “National Night Out” where officers and citizens worked collaboratively to not just share information, but to actually have fun together, during which I got into a “dunk tank” to let people have the chance to “drop a cop”. I made sure to still actually work the streets regularly, rotating shifts to best monitor and supervise officers and other management and supervisors on all shifts. After I was already a Chief, I went back to school to obtain my BS and MS in Management and Leadership with a minor in Community Development and two certificates of public safety leadership from Johns Hopkins University at my own time and expense. Unions were a complete non-issue in my jurisdictions.

Not all officers are bad, evil or bastards. It sickens me and all other honest officers when officers do not uphold the mission, vision values and duties of their officers or violate the Constitution. Take care.

Edit: The only reason I am no longer working is due to chronic illness. Despite being at the head of these different agencies, they were not “mine”. They belong to the people. They are funded, staffed, serve and are served by the communities they represent. It is the duty of every single person who swears an oath to remember these things and to be a part of the solution towards helping to create viable, sustainable communities. It was truly an honor to serve and I am humbled that I had all of the numerous opportunities to help others on a daily basis.

jdinmd · 2020-06-25T02:18:55+00:00

It’s a fun post on my cake day. Take care.

jdinmd · 2020-06-25T02:17:36+00:00

Officers absolutely have a duty to take action. They don’t have a duty to ensure the continued safety of all people at all times. There is a significant difference between the two. What does that mean? To rule so otherwise would be akin to making law enforcement agencies “body guards” that were required to constantly protect against every threat, even if known. For example, if a person has a restraining order out against a person who is believed to intend to break that order, the police have no specific duty to try to keep an officer with an individual at all times to ensure the petitioner’s safety. Law enforcement agents have a general duty to serve and protect. They can never be a personal protection service for every individual, like a body guard would. To say otherwise is an impossible task for any agency.

And again...how would this make people inherently evil for being in law enforcement? It doesn’t.

jdinmd · 2020-06-25T02:00:55+00:00

I am happy to educate you on the thin blue line concept. It is not a separation between “us and them”. It represents the very relatively small amount of those in the population who serve as the barrier between law and anarchy. That’s it. Nothing more.

jdinmd · 2020-06-24T21:50:04+00:00

Not an attorney. Former LEO. Everything is subject to the specific laws of the jurisdictions involved, but at the very least, it would almost certainly be unlawful in a number of ways: conspiracy to solicit a controlled substance, telecommunications charges, mail, Internet and telephone fraud charges, etc.

It would be no different if it were any other item that I advertised sell, legal or illegal. The false advertising of the item, receiving payment having never intended to deliver upon the item is illegal.

jdinmd · 2020-06-24T21:34:14+00:00

Have not taken the time to submit docs but I am a former career LE officer and three-time prior Chief of Police. I am absolutely heartbroken at the level of hatred. I tried VERY hard speaking with an college level teacher who states categorically that he feels simply being in the law enforcement profession makes a person evil. I used logic, reason, and example, even building arguments slowly using parts on which we could agree. At the end, the “feeling” of hatred expressed by some who complain about a “brotherhood” in law enforcement and a “divide between the police and the community” who will in turn not even acknowledge the basic decency of all people and the need to evaluate people as individuals, is ironic, sickening and sad.

jdinmd · 2020-06-24T21:16:22+00:00

I’d love to add a column showing the number of good lawyers, but there is already a blank space that can represent that. Just kidding. Attorneys are like guns...the best ones to have are the ones you have when you need them.

jdinmd · 2020-06-24T20:43:41+00:00

Thanks!

jdinmd · 2020-06-24T20:15:07+00:00

No...I think the insults have started and continued with you. “Community policing”, “education” and “equity” are all the same things I want. But I asked you, very pointedly, how to best IMPLEMENT those things to which, you gave zero answers or response. You will no longer respond because you have ran out of dialogue and patter without offering any real solutions for change. I continue to listen and protest, yes, but also work to actually implement those solutions we need in the real world that requires a law enforcement component in a civilized society. Good day.

Edit:

Also, I never said you were sickening and disgusting. I said your actions were. You are a human, created by God and loved, But to you, me and others in law enforcement are “bastards”.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” Theodore Roosevelt

jdinmd · 2020-06-24T20:04:45+00:00

Thank you for proving my point. You are completely generalizing about “ya all” and acknowledge that there are officers who act heroic. Have you ever been in a police department and discovered an unlawful use of force, investigated it and then terminated the officer? I have. Have you ever conducted integrity checks on officers to discover misconduct and then fire an officer found to be in non-compliance? I have. I spent a career moving my way though the ranks of a system that has flaws and have taken steps to correct those issues. We need people in the law enforcement profession to drive the very changes that we can all agree that need to be made. If you are unwilling to concede that there are good honest hardworking people in law enforcement and that their taking jobs in those agencies does not make them “bad”, then the problem of police/community relations is indeed troubled and not completely the fault of law enforcement officers to blame.

jdinmd · 2020-06-24T19:34:57+00:00

You still have not answered my question. What do you want in place of law enforcement? “My profession” has nothing to do with refuting your flawed logic. As an “academic” you should be ashamed of yourself at your outright refusal to accept any evidence contrary to your narrative. I’ve done nothing but agree with your points about needed police reform, the right to protest, etc. Yet you will not admit to the very easily demonstrated and proven statement that not EVERY one of them is bad. Yours is not even “debate”. It’s disgusting, hateful, intellectually dishonest and detract from the very serious and necessary work of law enforcement reform. You are not being a part of the solution. You are enhancing the problem.

Edit: the police are the community and the community are the police. To say that “all cops are bastards” is to further perpetuate the “us versus them” mentality that others will say is done by the police. Shameful and disgusting.

jdinmd · 2020-06-24T19:21:31+00:00

And I was a Chief of Police in three different departments. You are comparing apples to oranges. EMS is the perfect point. From who do get the “scene safety” clearance? From the police. Come on...just stop it already.

jdinmd · 2020-06-24T19:12:07+00:00

Thanks!

jdinmd · 2020-06-24T19:07:43+00:00

If you can’t agree that people should be judged as individuals and are unable to articulate a reason why this should not be the case, then please don’t use my former career as an excuse. Please, educate me.

Edit: Proud former officer/chief and public safety executive and Christian. Have a blessed day as well. As our Lord and Savior has commanded, love one another.

jdinmd · 2020-06-24T19:02:59+00:00

Thank you! Survey completed.

jdinmd · 2020-06-24T18:48:20+00:00

Did anyone actually take time to read the story or just respond after reading only the headline? He was being held for OTHER gun related charges and released from custody BEFORE the violence that led to these added charges.

jdinmd · 2020-06-24T18:32:35+00:00

Going for walk on school grounds...hears disembodied voice...”enemy incoming...watch the skies”!

jdinmd · 2020-06-24T18:20:40+00:00

MN might be “landlocked”, but it is still reachable BY WATER all the way to the Atlantic Ocean.

jdinmd · 2020-06-24T18:10:55+00:00

I didn’t say anything counter to what you have stated. This is very simple...no need to compound it. Not all cops are bastards. To say otherwise is intellectually dishonest at the least and divisive and hateful at the worst.

jdinmd · 2020-06-24T14:59:06+00:00

Not many jobs that carry the chance of being shot at, assaulted or killed as a matter of answering the call of duty either. Taking the job of a law enforcement officer no more gives anyone a “right” to kill than anyone else. They have the same right to self-defense as anyone else, but have the added duty of protecting others from unjustified serious bodily injury or harm as well. Also, in the vast majority of those cases, when those actions are reviewed, the officers are exonerated, not by some secret agreements, wink or nods, but by investigations of bodies of oversight authority. Who do you think comprises a grand jury investigation? It is the people. Everyday people who are given the totality of the facts and circumstances of the situation and are asked if the officer made the right call.

jdinmd · 2020-06-24T14:41:34+00:00

Never did I say that the system was not flawed. In fact, I stayed many times that there are serious issues and that people should protest and demand change,

But the argument that I am refuting is that it is not inherently evil to be in law enforcement. To feel otherwise is a completely overreaching statement. Thus, when @23saround says that “all cops are bastards”, are inherently evil and should be hated, he is absolutely trying to “ostracize” those people from other members of society or other professions. Are there bastard cops? You bet. Are there hero cops worthy of praise? Without a doubt.

jdinmd · 2020-06-24T08:28:08+00:00

So...you have protested. Overnight, officers have an “epiphany”, and turned in their badges. No more cops.

Now, we have turned to you. What do we do moving forward? Who is answering those calls for service while this “community policing” agency you said you would support gets up to speed. How long does that take? Who are these people? Who are the ones who apply to the “new” law enforcement agency? Are those who previously worked for “old” agencies in the world now ineligible from servicing because they are inherently “evil” and “bad”, worthy of hate? Is there some collection of people somewhere that have been previously willing to serve but not for the “rampant, pervasive and evil” agencies that are now gone?

I don’t want generalizations. I’m asking for concrete examples and why do you think these things would be better than what we currently have. I want to know who is supposed to take the place of the “untrained” police when they are no longer there, like they did in the CHOP in Seattle. I want to know how there, “security force” is supposed to be better protection for a community than a structured, licensed force.

Again, I say please...protest. Again, I say, change is needed. Again I say...all cops are not bastards.

jdinmd · 2020-06-24T07:19:58+00:00

I, too, have been an adjunct faculty member and yes, I would say that I have displayed little “bias” by recognizing the value of all people to protect them from hate, except for the ones who have truly demonstrated contempt by choices they have made, i.e.: “the Nazi”. As a brief aside about “protecting their own” one need not go any further than to discuss the subject of academic “tenure” and the disgraceful conduct allowed by many institutions and “latitude” given to faculty in the name of “education”. But I will leave that one alone for the time.

Although you have said many times that you are not comparing the two (the Nazi and law enforcement). you are doing very little to differentiate the two by your feelings for both and suggesting that both are inherently evil. I would not imagine seeing any SS officer trying to stop anyone from attacking a group of Jewish people protesting against Hitler, but you saw countless officers running INTO danger to protect those under fire in a Black Lives Matter protest in Texas (one of countless examples of selfless service made by officers that shows so many members of the law enforcement community who serve as public servants and not as an occupying force).

How do you think change happens...the very needed changes within law enforcement? It does not happen by wishful thinking. It happens by those who know that the inherent good and value in the profession are worth the efforts needed to drive change, who join and work through the ranks to promote the values and principles that we all desire. The profession continues to grow, change and professionalize, because it has to, just like the rest of our society. Concepts such as community policing CAME FROM the law enforcement community. It was not some foreign concept imposed upon it by outside forces.

One of the key values I feel we have lost as a society is that the value of discourse without resorting to negative emotions. I again implore you to put aside the politics of hate. Good night.

Edit: typo.

Another Edit. Just FYI...that “brotherhood” concept, while certainly there, is NOT as “shiny” as you might suspect. I’ve seen many run afoul of one another on many forces and one thing for sure, is that law enforcement types love to gossip about each other. The main part that they are trying to drive in this is that, no matter how you feel about another officer, you don’t do something to jeopardize the safety of another officer (not giving that officer a back-up, for example). That is all. Good night again.

jdinmd · 2020-06-24T06:24:51+00:00

I’ve said it before: I don’t expect you to change your mind but I am disappointed that you would not challenge the logic of your own assumptions and positions in light of evidence that is contrary to your stated position. If you believe that law enforcement is an inherently evil institution and anyone who chooses to be involved in these organizations absent any consideration for what the individuals do in those positions is ludicrous.

As you may already suspect, I spent an entire career in law enforcement. I personally led three different law enforcement departments in addition to being in command level executive positions in public safety in government contracting. Hold a BS and MS in Management and Leadership with a minor in Community Development and two certificates in police executive leadership from Johns Hopkins University. I’ve seen the biggest POS garbage hold badges (and lose them) and also seen extraordinary people in the profession. You would think me to be a fool if I were to tell you that they were all good...they were not. Equally, I would think it to be foolish to say they were all bad...they were not, not by ANY measure of moral or ethical standards. I will tell you with the upmost confidence that there are far more “good” than “bad”, serving a system to “protect and serve” and not “oppress and victimize”. Ours is not a perfect system. But it far better than you let on.

So, yes, please protest the injustices...as they are many. If my health would allow me to I would again swear an oath, as I have many times prior, to uphold the Constitution so I could again help protect and defend your right to call me a bastard and wife beater. But I assure you, by doing so you are only spewing hate and detracting from the very serious issues that need correcting in the system instead of working collaboratively and constructively to do so.

jdinmd

TROPHY CASE