There is an interesting case developing in the Dover Police Department where a video has been released that has resulted in the indictment of Officer Tom Webster for his actions during an arrest on August 24, 2013. The suspect appears to be obeying his commands. What is interesting is that a prior grand jury declined to indict Webster, but prosecutors then tried again with another grand jury and secured an indictment.
Previously, a grand jury declined to issue an indictment and the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Delaware found that there was no civil rights violation. In June 2014, Webster returned to full duty with the Dover Police Department and was reassigned to the patrol division. However, on May 4, 2015, it was disclosed that the Delaware Attorney General’s office took this case before a second grand jury and secured an indictment against Webster on the charge of Assault 2nd degree. In response, the Dover Police Department put Webster on leave without pay.
It is fascinating to see the different results in the two grand juries. You be the judge.
The videotape is below.
What recourse do parents have when bad teachers are not fired, or shuffled from school to school, and their kids fail their classes?
Karen – there are charter schools and there is home schooling.
Pointing out that GOP politicians do not always follow the conservative line, or that there are RINOs, is like saying the sky is blue. Welcome to the cesspool of the Duopoly.
Wait, so Liberals howl when conservatives fight the unions, but if they some of them don’t fight the police and fire unions, they get upset?
Personal, I believe the union model abuses influence, prevents bad employees from getting terminated, and unfairly forces its members to donate to political causes they do not personally support.
Teachers unions defend pedophile teachers against being fired. The union model tends to go astray.
http://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/in-a-bind-arbitration-gives-officers-a-method-of-fighting-termination-but-what-recourse-does-the-public-have-when-theyre-rehired/Content?oid=1746236
“In a Bind: Arbitration gives officers a method of fighting termination, but what recourse does the public have when they’re rehired?”
“By the time the process is over, no one is disciplined unless they’re sitting in jail.
But if the neutral arbitrator is indeed neutral, why do police unions have so much success reversing terminations? There’s no simple answer to that question, and it divides city and union officials.
Is it because police unions cherry-pick their cases, only appealing terminations for disciplinary issues that clearly warrant some lesser punishment? Or do arbitrators skew their findings in hopes that favorable rulings will encourage the union to challenge decisions more often? Such questions are hard to resolve, in part because the opinions arbitrators write to justify their findings are not considered public under state law. And that, some experts suggest, both undermines public confidence in the police force and helps keep troubled officers on the streets.”
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/12/how-police-unions-keep-abusive-cops-on-the-street/383258/
How Police Unions and Arbitrators keep abusive cops on the street.
“In June 2008, after downing six drinks as part of his wife’s birthday celebration on the South Side, Paul Abel was accused of accidentally shooting a 20-year-old man he was trying to pistol-whip. In December 2009, Eugene Hlavac was accused of slapping his ex-girlfriend (and his son’s mother) so hard that he dislocated her jaw. And in November 2010, Garrett Brown was accused of running two delivery-truck drivers off the road in a fit of rage—an allegation similar to those made against Brown in at least one other late-night traffic encounter.
Each of these men, who were all Pittsburgh Police officers at the time of the incidents, shares a common experience: They all were fired, charged criminally, cleared of those charges … and then got their jobs back through arbitration. And they’re not alone. Nine officers were fired by the city between 2009 and 2013, but five of those terminations were overturned by an arbitrator, according to Pittsburgh Public Safety Director Mike Huss. (In all, says Huss, the city filed 269 disciplinary-action reports in that period, 33 of which involved suspensions.) In the cases where terminations were appealed by the police union through arbitration, officers got their jobs back close to 70 percent of the time, according to figures provided by Huss.”
Inga – you do realize that an arbitrator is neutral?
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/12/12/the-gop-and-police-unions-a-love-story.html
The GOP and Police Unions, a love story.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/unions-that-backed-walker-faring-better-than-others-b99447455z1-292416091.html?ipad=y
Most of the unions that were exempted from Act 10 were the ones that endorsed Walker. Surprise.
Walker: “Well, we’re going to start in a couple weeks with our budget adjustment bill…
The first step is, we’re going to deal with collective bargaining for all
public employee unions, because you use divide and conquer.”
Annie,
Here is an example of police unions throwing their weight around…
Los Angeles police chief, union at odds over homeless man’s slaying
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/07/us-usa-police-losangeles-idUSKBN0NS29V20150507
So, police unions support unjustified killings? It would seem so…
http://wcmcoop.com/2012/05/30/why-didnt-walker-exempt-all-police-agencies-from-provisions-of-act-10/
The following is a letter written by a Wisconsin law enforcement officer who wishes to remain anonymous:
I have a question that I would like Governor Walker to answer.
When Act 10 was introduced it was well publicized that two groups of workers would be exempt from the legislation, the firefighters and police. This was done for political reasons I’m sure, not because Walker actually respects these workers. I believe that Walker was worried that Department of Corrections employees would go on strike and therefore local police and especially State Patrol officers would be called in to man the prisons during the strike. Also, a lot of conservative people tend to look at police and firefighters as they do the military; they are considered the “heroes” and therefore should not be touched by this legislation. Walker knew that by stripping police and firefighters of their rights that he would appear to be anti-American and accused of “Not supporting the troops.”
University Police and the Capitol Police were NOT exempted from Act 10. Read the entire letter and get a better idea of the hypocrisy.
The attempt to delegitimize the police is indeed a partisan issue. The Democrats and the progressives support the criminals. Not the police. They want to give the criminal element the “space to destroy.”
They have told us that. Why don’t you want to take them at their word?
Max:
“So are you saying that the police are merely responding to this “liberal crisis”?”
Absolutely not. The failure of Liberal policies created and/or worsened the plight of high crime neighborhoods. Progressives run on platforms of fixing the inner city, but after decades of control, what have they fixed?
Police response is a separate issue.
As I have said before, the law must apply equally to all of us, including the police. If there is an allegation of wrongdoing, it must be investigated, and if there are no charges filed, it should be transparent why. I have also suggested community policing. And I have in no uncertain terms condemned riots that burn their own neighborhood.
Max, there are some very troubled cops, sadly. My brother counseled cops like Rice.
Are you trying to say that Liberals do not support all unions now because one Republican exempted first responders unions from a controversial bill? Does someone have to take on all the unions in a single fell sweep?
Unions are Liberal darlings no matter how much you try to squirm out of it.
Karen S
So are you saying that the police are merely responding to this “liberal crisis”?
Paul C.
It’s not just an Obama thing… you know that much, don’t you?
Again, why is this a partisan issue?
Max-1 – this is a partisan issue because with Obama everything is a partisan.
Oops, should be “destroyed”, darn autocorrect.
Annie
Did you see this?
Officer in Freddie Gray case demanded man’s arrest as part of personal dispute
Baltimore lieutenant Brian Rice used his position to threaten ‘heads will roll’ if officers did not arrest his ex-girlfriend’s husband, police report reveals
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/may/08/baltimore-officer-brian-rice-freddie-gray
Scott Walker a Republican, exempted the Police Union from Act 10, the law that set rowed collective bargaining. Hmmmm, I wonder why? I don’t think Walker is a liberal by a long shot.