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just mad
- Thread starter poopdaddy
- Start date
Not illegally. But in a manner that, in other circles is illegal or at least unethical.
If I work for a delivery company and drive a company truck, then on the weekends I take delivery jobs and use the company truck to do it, using the company's gas, insurance card(of course), put miles on the truck and use the hand trucks and equipment that belong to the company, am I acting Illegally? Probably not. Am I acting unethically? Oh yeah. It's not that I am moonlighting, nor even that I am doing the same job my company does. But using the truck(which if I had an accident in it I could call my company's insurance company), using their gas and equipment and yet not sharing the rewards of their investment because "they should pay me more and I wouldn't need to moonlight".
You still don't get it?
You, as a cop have a public trust. That's a marketable commodity and these theaters, etc are BUYING that. Your UNIFORM is more than clothing. It's a symbol of that public trust. It's a symbol of public authority. You are renting the publics faith in you by wearing the badge and uniform of the public servant to make money.
If you still can't see the wrongness in that then it's got to be because you CHOOSE not to.
If the department okays it, and the city okays it and the state okays it then it's ok. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean it's wrong. Just like any other issue there will always be two sides.
Though you may but like gay marriage and think it's wrong, somebody thinks it's ok and the government did too. There are things that the government did that's worse then a cop working a side job. Which I think should be the primary focus of us. Not a guy trying to make ends meet.
Like asking a lawyer for marital advice. If it's legal it's ok. A few years ago the city I lived in had a "roundup" program they put on the utility bills to raise money for charity. They chose the charity and then they made the program so you had to opt OUT or the bill was rounded up to the next dollar and the change was take for their charity. I told them that I thought it was unethical to ASSUME people wanted to give when by defaulting to being in the program they obviously counted on getting money from people who opened their envelope, took out the bill and threw the normal junk mail away. You know what they said? "It's legal". That's the battle cry of the unethical.
Well you should include the military in that letter, because service men get sent to other countries to train their forces on your dime. Heck my unit got sent to Scotland to train Canadian forces. Then to south America to train them.
Was there really a benefit for the tax payers there?
Oh don't let me accidentally give you the impression that the small but significant unethical activity we are discussing here precludes the mountain of stupid, unethical and downright illegal crap politicians practice on a routine basis. But they are lawyers at heart so cheating, lying and finding ways to rationalize unethical behavior is their stock in trade.
I guess my problem, and what allows me to fight and get passionate against the cop-haters and bashers is the foolish belief that people who stand guard, protectors, are supposed to strive to live right. "Well, it's legal" is the biggest cop-out(pardon the pun) in the world for doing something wrong, but not punishable by law.
how can you claim that a police officer can remain nuetral or unbiased while still being beholden to a 3rd party?
military folks dont wear their uniform unless it is in official capacity. even though LEO and soldier is very different, i would expect the same in this regards
Because people commit crimes against one another and thats where the third party comes in. Thats when you play neutral. Now don't get me wrong people commit crimes against society and even then your the third party and you listen to both sides. Now I'm not saying they will always remain neutral but the ones who last are the ones who go to each call and treat it like its own special call. No preconceived notions and no biases. At the beginning of every call everyone gets the same respect and the are innocent.
But the greatest tool I have ever learn is Police Discretion, and that means not everybody has to go to jail and not everybody deserves a ticket. Its bases upon that individual officer.
I can understand that, my problem is people blame us right off the bat when it's the politicians they elected who make these laws we have to enforce. They think we made up speeding laws or that we made it illegal to run a stop sign.
I want people to look at the big picture. Look at City managers and look at the people in Atlanta.
Where does his pay come from? Is the average LEO "exempt" or "non exempt" If he is getting paid for off duty hours by a private party where is the line for his responsibilities. Meaning if he is off the clock as a LEO I can tell him to take a leap , if he were to give my a "lawful order"? Just curious as you often hear an "Off Duty" LEO did such and such , captured a perp, saved a life... etc. OBTW I am in no way a LEO basher, they do a Hell of a job.
