Thursday, January 29, 2009

Fuck Authority! Wait, I'm The Authority!

File this under whatever you like:

1. Things that happen only in Boston
2. Metallica brings out the rebel in anyone
3. Another cop being a shitty human being
4. Cops go lightly on criminal cop - again

Either way, this story has its moments.

An off-duty police officer at a Metallica concert thought it would be a good idea to get R. Kelly on another fan's head and provide him with a golden shower. Yes, he peed on him.

Presumably, the piss recipient was not pleased, as the policeman was arrested for his actions. During the arrest, Joseph Houston, the cop, tried to use the “But I’m a cop!” routine, and it didn't quite work.

Now, if it had been me urinating on someone else, I'd be accused of disorderly conduct, assault, exhibitionism, public nudity, and maybe even resisting arrest. What Houston got was an accusation of ''trespassing'' (seriously, what the fuck?) and PAID LEAVE while the story blows over. Makes sense, yeah.

I've said it time and time again, and I'll keep repeating it until it gets in their stupid heads and they react accordingly: I come from a family of cops and military men. Stand Up Guys who did the Right Thing because it was the only thing to do, because if you can't trust the Uniformed Men to uphold the law with higher moral standards than anyone else, the institution they represent loses its credibility.

When something like this happens, the cops shouldn't protect the asshole, they should get him into court and try him as they would anyone else; and when the sentence comes, it should be double what anyone else would receive - one time for the crime, one time for betraying the institution and the public they should be serving.

This would achieve two goals at once: 1. it would keep the weak-hearted and criminally-bent from even thinking of applying for a Service job, and 2. it would help restore the public's faith in an institution that has seemed to be more vile and wrong than even the mob for the past 40 years, with each passing day bringing a new news story of abuse of power, corruption, criminal activity and/or bad decision-making.

You wear the suit, you are responsible for living accordingly - with respect for your fellow citizens, The Law, and the society you're living in. If not, we're no better than banana republic police states - and that would mean that, once in a while, a good riot would be in order, with deaths on all sides and maybe even some politicians' heads getting chopped off.

And we don't really want that, now, do we?

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