First and second problem right here. You really expected cops to care about you?

have you tried relentless optimism!

That's what I was going to say! Hi5!

Lulz!!

Teh copz. Zhey do nothing.

I'm more worried about others than myself. The police have gone to this teen's house more than once. His parents are covering for him and I'm positive he knows how much trouble he's in! If he walks away from this, who knows what'll happen next?

Don't answer that, just something to think about!! Relentless optimism! Hahah!

seroiusly dude, take it down a notch

Tha police?
Fuck em.

The police don't "do" stuff. They act as a deterrent. Probably, there's not a great deal of usable evidence and the guy is a minor, thus there's not really much they can do. If you had any political power in the community, they'd likely be more on the ball. File a complaint with the station and be done with it. Do not expect justice to be served, because it won't be.

If you were really interested in a remedy, hire a lawyer and take it up in civil court.

Y'all are right! I just got back from the station and they told me to eat a 'jar of dicks' because there were no witnesses available.

Despite there being evidence, my testimony isn't good enough. The police officer at the local high school has had to meet with him more than once so I suspect this isn't his first run in with the police.

So this teen and his friends will walk free. Oh well, that's life!

I think your definition of evidence probably varies from their definition. To them, "evidence" is something that can be used in court for a clear and easy conviction. I think that you're expecting that they'll do some sort of "investigation" and I'm afraid, that's not what the police do.

There is no justice in the world. Try to forgive the guy that assaulted you.

Cops won't do anything unless there is a lot of money involved or someone gets killed. If I recall correctly you know where he lives. Wait a couple months, get some butyric acid, put it in a beer bottle and throw it thru his window. He will never get the stench out.

For just 3 easy payments of 9.99, I offer vigilante justice! That's right! Justice at a discount price! Act now, supplies are limited! Vigilante Justice! Yes!

@halbritt: That's good advice, I'll keep that in mind!
@pirate: We live in the same neighborhood! So yeah, I know where he lives and I see him a lot when I'm cycling or running. Disappointed!
@pharoah: lol, my friends want him taken care of. Thanks but no thanks! I don't want this kid getting hurt!

So the moral of this story is:

get a van, kidnap him, put a hood over his head, drive to the middle of nowhere, take his shoes, cell phone, etc, kick him out of the van and then drive off.

Fuck the law

Not really. The police are undertrained, underpaid, blue collar employees that face the risk of death on daily basis and are continuously exposed to the worst elements of society until they become twisted or jaded. There serve a particular role, not because they suck and that's the role they wish to serve, but because in spite of all the "protect and serve" bullshit on the side of their cars, they serve the role society asks of them which is to provide a minimum and most cost-efficient enforcement of law.

That's a pretty apologist view of the police, and nothing against you if those are the types of interactions you've had with them (good for you actually) but based on my various experiences I can say a whole lot of Police in this area do the job because they get off on having authority over people. A lot of sociologists talk about certain kinds of individuals having a personality deficiency where they crave authority for the sake of authority, and that IMO has fit the description of every single police officer I've dealt with in my 5 or 6 dealings with them over the years.

The only time the police get involved in something is if they see an opportunity to fuck someone around. I've seen them ignore crimes happening right in front of them because they didn't feel like putting in the work, and I've seen them look for every technicality possible to harass someone who hasn't done anything.

There was an article recently where the toronto police services talked about a new crime cutting initiative that involved patrolling pour neighbourhood's and stopping people randomly so they can get their names in a database as well as build a network of contacts and investigate "just what exactly these people are doing at the moment we stop them". They also admitted to stopping a disproportionate amount of black people in this program, and they basically just shrugged their shoulders over it.

Fuck the police

It's not apologist, it's accurate. There are good police and bad police. My point about them being undertrained and underpaid has nothing to do with my sympathy for them, but says something about the type of people that will do that sort of work. There are a few decent ones, many that just want to show up and do the job, and quite a few douchebags that crave authority. Really, it's about what you'd expect to see if you did a cross-section of any kind of blue-collar job.

The difficulty comes with the fact that police have a special role and authority granted to them by society. Many eventually become corrupt because they are fallible human beings. To expect otherwise represents a blindness to the reality of the circumstances. I guarantee that once your understanding of their role becomes more accurate that your interactions with them will be more positive.

Just call BART Police. They'll either shoot him or bust his head through a window for you.

I've had good experiences and bad experiences with cops.

They are people.

the only good place for a cop is in a closed casket.

I've had multiple good experiences with them in SF. They were nice. And then they fucked up the police report and never contacted my witness.

haha you called the cops because some kid snuck you.

stop being a pussy.

haha, this guy

Hahah! What do you suggest I do? He knows when I'm around because we live in the same neighborhood.

He runs away every time he sees me, so what am I to do?! Drag him out of his house and beat him in front of his parents? Yeah, that'll go over well!

I just don't want to fight anymore. I'm done with it!

it's fucking true. some kid swings on you and you run to the fucking cops who probably have enough shit on their plate as it is and then you bitch because they aren't doing enough? what the fuck do you want them to do? a fucking teenager punched you. sorry you aren't on the top of their priorities list, captain privilege. why call them in the first place? man up and either hit the kid back, go to his house and talk to his parents yourself, or just accept it as part of living in a urban area and go on with your life instead of running to the swine.

p.s. you're probably gonna get hit more for talking to cops anyway

tru coz snitches get stitches

it's not even about that. it's just about not being a little white guilt pansy and running to office friendly when a big bad urban person hits you. he didn't even rob you forchrissakes. man up.

p.s. that stop snitchin mentality is seriously gonna get you beat up though homie is right

like make no mistake, i feel for you. getting rocked sucks. but it's a part of living in a city. either accept it or move, because it's not gonna stop if you call the cops. in fact, it'll probably happen more.

I gave you two pretty good suggestions.

basically what my boy oh no is sayin is that either man up and make him the bitch or you the bitch
runnin to the cops pretty solidly puts you in the bitch camp

also, what's the rest of this story?
were you randomly walking down the street and he snuffed you or something?

not even make him the bitch or you are the bitch

but calling five oh is like bitch status plus now all his friends are gonna be mad at you for dropping dime and they're gonna try to hit you too

I think he was riding his bike and the kid decided it'd be cute to elbow him in the face, but I can't tell any of these bears apart anymore.

It's not like somebody just came up to me and sucker punched me! If I was on foot, I would have told a different tale! Hah!

As I was on my bike, his friends took up a good portion of the street (we have a lot of kids in the area, so this is normal). I went around and this teen who was hiding behind his friend, jumped out in front of me and elbowed me in the jaw without warning! I don't even know the guy!

At the time, I was riding standing up (at about 20!) and wasn't about to take my hands off the bars because I didn't want to make the situation even worse. I decided to take the hit because if I were to fall, it would have been predictable. I didn't by the way!

So yeah, your point is noted!

sounds like a good time for u-lock justice.

that is literally the exact same thing as being sucker punched.

also if he didn't hit you hard enough to knock you off your bike then it's not even worth considering the cops.

also whats with the constant exclamation points shit is annoying son

they're gonna love you in lockup, son

Droppin' dimes and playing "who's the bitch?"

Sounds like people have been listening to too much rap music.

Forgive the guy and move on.

i agree with most of what heath has said in this thread. as often happens, he and i interpret a lot of facts in similar ways and yet arrive at different conclusions. i think that cops are fallible human beings, etc, undertrained, underpaid, and prone to becoming twisted and jaded. i agree that they are a deterrent to crime and don't "do" anything, as he said. but i also think in addition that they exist to preserve the status quo that favors the already rich and powerful at the expense of the poor and working class, and to keep people in line and obeying the rules--both the law and social and cultural custom*. and since i'm not really down with the implied exploitation of the first clause and many laws and most social customs, and definitely not down with staying in line and not questioning and exercising independent thought, i think regardless of individual badness or goodness of police officers, that police are, overall, bad.

a question that has been bothering me, though, is what reasonable alternative exists in the world we live in today: communities policing themselves sounds good, but some horrible lessons have been taught through this culture for so long that it'd be hard to undo them to an extent where communities could reasonably do that. again and again, i come back to this idea that i need to dig even deeper to figure out where the roots of our problems lie before the problems of some of the leaves (and both police and criminals are often simply two opposed groups of thugs growing from the same roots) can be addressed. but perhaps i digress too much for this thread.

*i won't argue that police don't also serve other purposes, however i believe that those are largely in the periphery. while some may become cops to do good for the community and it does sometimes happen, i do think the main reason for the state to maintain a police force is for the reasons i stated.

rap music = black people

i hear you dude they're ruining my neighborhood too

also yeah that forgive shit just kinda proves that it's never happened to you. have fun in your little bubble.

Ha.

are you actually below the curve as far as IQ goes, or do you just like playin dumb?

on topic: trailer park justice. fuck his mom.

Heath you are so sheltered. You just got told by some 18yr bike messenger, he is from the streets.

This guy. So hard, the whole internet is in awe of his realness.

As for alternatives, I believe a more local form of community policing would be a lot more in line with what people envision the police *should* do. It seems in small towns where they have a sherriff or local police force that has kids in the same classes, or shop in the same stores, you don't get the same kind of opressive power tripping from some pig dickhead stomping all over faceless plebes to make himself feel better. Now as to whether that is actually practical in an urban built up area is up for debate, but it would require a radical restructuring of the way police forces are organized.

As it is now some pig from the suburbs usually couldn't give a fuck less about the community he drives into to shit on for a paycheck, and imo no that doesn't work.

Probably, I need to get out of my posh little neighborhood and see what it's like out in the real world.

Ian, as ever we agree on most things. Everything you wrote is basically correct from my perspective.

The thing about cops is that they serve society and are intended to preserve the social order, mainly to permit commerce to happen. That's generally going to lead to the cops caring more about the rich and the powerful than the poor and the downtrodden. They're not serving an altruistic purpose, so I wouldn't expect them to be an advocate for the poor and the downtrodden.

Finally, most cops that I've ever interacted with see a polarized world full of "norms" and "perps". The "norms", as you can imagine are most likely to be the sort of white-bread people you'd expect.