Really. So they either get even with the narcissistic, silly, self-impressed nitwits on-scene, or if they get beat in a battle of knowledge of the law with a citizen, they get even with the citizen's wider community instead of just following the law. Classic summary judgment and punishment for the crime of contempt of cop. Screw the law! I AM THE LAW! is the attitude portrayed in that screed.
NOT AT ALL.
1.) I’m not getting even. I just reduced Seim’s argument to the absurd, i.e. that no unmarked police vehicles should be allowed to perform enforcement functions, and illustrated the untenable results that would occur. So save your anger for Mr. Seim, who inhabits a world devoid of common sense? In the real world, a minor technical violation is ignored for a short time [no department decals on the sector car] so that the greater good [keeping the maximum amount of police on patrol] prevails. This logic obviously escapes Mr. Seim.
I’m a little confused by this statement: “Screw the law! I AM THE LAW!” Hmm. According to you, if I continue to patrol in violation of the law, I’M SCREWING THE LAW, or disregarding the law, taking the law into my own hands, not upholding my oath or whatever. But if I take my car out of service to be in compliance of said law, I’m now making a “Classic summary judgment and punishment of the citizen’s wider community for the crime of contempt of cop.” Whatever that is.
Heads you win, Tails I lose. Nice try, but please make up your mind on what you want me to do.
And Im not judging or punishing anyone. Its Mr. Seim who thinks the operation of an unmarked patrol car is a greater threat to the community than the lack of a police resource.
2.) “Getting beat in a battle of knowledge of the law with a citizen” Oh Wow, he researched some obscure section of the Washington State Admin code and played “gotcha” with a cop. This is an issue for the leadership. a front line police officer is hardly expected to know the administrative rules governing the decaling of law enforcement vehicles. And Mr. Seim knows it too. Instead of badgering the cop, he should have gone to the executive leadership and made his concerns known. But that doesn’t have the emotional wallop of chagrining a cop for his ego.
Well Sarge... YOU swore to uphold the law and the Constitution of the U.S. to the best of your ability; not hide behind FOIA requests, lie about supervisory orders, sit on your duff over technicalities, and retard public safety calls as retribution. I do hope, that you sir, are not part of my local constabulary.
YOU BETTER HOPE MR. SEIM DOESN’T GET TO WRITE THE RULES FOR YOUR CONSTABULARY.
3.) “Well Sarge... YOU swore to uphold the law and the Constitution of the U.S. to the best of your ability;” I do. By department R’s & P’s and my union agreement, It is also my duty to uphold my department’s image and I have a right to protect my reputation from ridicule, or be forced to endure the harassment of nonsense acts. That means I don’t have be a sock puppet in some buffoon’s video. I don’t have to answer questions not directly related to my job at my level. I only have to ID myself by name, shield number and command [Pct.] when in uniform. There’s a name plate with my last name on it under my shield which has a unique number. I don’t have to spell it for you, give you a pen to write it down, or provide any other form of ID.
4.) “not hide behind FOIA requests” My dept. has a public information officer. He is the official voice of the department. The R’s & P’s state that no one is to make any statements about the department, its policies & procedures, any investigation, release any work product, or make any comments or statements unless it had been cleared by the PIO. This is to preclude the release of false, misleading, confusing or incorrect information.
There are also privacy act laws and dept. policies which precluded the release of complainant/victim/witness information for obvious reasons. Any arrest information is of course public information, but that doesn’t mean I can release it to anyone who asks. How would you feel if I responded to Mr. Seim with information about a sexual assault that happened to a family member of yours? The dept. has established a mechanism for releasing this info and I have to follow it. So Im not hiding behind anything.
5.) “lie about supervisory orders” Do you mean the car marking regulations? I’m not expected to know them. And if assigned an unmarked car by my patrol Sgt.,in violation of said code, he assumes the onus of the violation, not me. And for the “I was just following orders” is not an excuse crowd, this is at best a violation of an administrative code section, not a Nuremburg class felony.
6.) “sit on your duff over technicalities, and retard public safety calls as retribution.” My dept.’s R’s & P’s and my contract say if my sector car is pulled out of service for mechanical or other reasons I am to be reassigned according to the needs of the dept. That’s not sitting on my duff over a technicality, or retarding calls for service in retribution. That would be the absurd result if the Seim’s of this world were actually empowered to act on their lunatic ideas. Or do you actually think I’d get sent home with ½ a days pay?
7.)"No wonder people dislike cops." Yeh my dad always said if you wanted to be liked become a firefighter or medic. However, I don't run my life like a popularity contest. IDGAD who likes or dislikes me. I only care about going home at the end of my tour.
