Comments on: Thursday Roundup: Where Have You Gone, Sheriff Andy Taylor?

By: Trey Garrison

Trey Garrison — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:11:40 +0000

Keith — absolutely correct. Bears repeating.

By: keith johnson

keith johnson — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:09:21 +0000

Not all Dallas police officers support the actions of Officer Powell.

By: DMN: Houston Texans running back, on way to visit dying mother-in-law, detained by police | Texas Watchdog

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:02:36 +0000

[...] Magazine contributing editor Trey Garrison offers his take here Share and [...]

By: Vines & Cattle

Vines & Cattle — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 20:58:54 +0000

You’re not alone in this. Noble race that we are, your betters from north of the Red River are stricken with the same cop mentality.

http://www.reason.com/blog/show/132488.html

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 20:05:57 +0000

Amen to that, Trey. And if I’m reading the stories right, Moats’s father in law stayed with him at the car, no doubt in an effort to be sure there was someone there on Moat’s side. He was not at his own daughter’s bedside when she died, thanks to good officer Powell and his power trip.

By: Trey Garrison

Trey Garrison — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 18:13:50 +0000

Imagine the story if it wasn’t caught on the dash video. No one would believe the citizen side. Especially a black guy, but really any citizen.

By: Bethany

Bethany — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 17:57:05 +0000

I do have to wonder, though. Would we be hearing about this so much if it wasn’t an NFL player?

By: Amy S

Amy S — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:40:56 +0000

So this comes on the heels of PC People’s Merrit Patterson’s pull-over along Central by (it now turns out) a Dallas County Constable. One officer Caucasian, one officer African American, both officers rude and threatening when in situations not calling for aggression.

Scary who we authorize to be our “force of right”.

By: Trey Garrison

Trey Garrison — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:22:14 +0000

MATT — Taking a tangent from that, I’ve thought it would be a good idea that in addition to video and sound for all cars, they have a GPS system that monitors speed and movement down to the foot and the mph.

That info should then be published online, broken down by each car, maybe 24 hours after the shift. (Not real-time, to ensure bad guys can’t monitor where patrol cars are.)

That way, publicly interested individuals could check location, speed and behavior of the cars for a host of reasons — ensuring officers were where they say they were, that they’re not violating traffic laws when they’re not running code, etc.

Watchmen bear watching, after all.

BULLDOG — Great to see you, and great points.

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 15:16:21 +0000

I predict the cop will never be fired, and won’t even face any real discipline. He’s a dick that made the department look bad, but I’ll bet he’ll be able to defend any disciplinary action by simply showing that he went “by the book”. Insensitivity isn’t a crime, and probably isn’t in their rules manual, either.

The only thing (from the story) I think might get him in some real trouble is the threats of arrest, making up other charges, etc. Even that, I’m not sure of — while I don’t think a “fleeing” charge would stick, since they were stopped 20 seconds after he caught up to them, he could still probably make an arrest with a straight face.

It’s that type of guy that makes me wish there was some way to follow him around and cite him every time he speeds, rolls a light, or whatever, either off duty or on duty without lights (and a good reason). Maybe even if he doesn’t get formally disciplined, there will be an understanding that he’s an embarrassment that stall out his career.