Pajamas Media

34 Comments

1. jvon:

Thanks for your service, Jack. I know that is a thankless job.

Apr 19, 2009 - 1:13 am 2. Ken Hahn:

Bernard Parks is a politician and always was.

Apr 19, 2009 - 1:48 am 3. Delia:

Jack Dunphy,

What a heart-felt rant. I view law-enforcement officers the same as I do our soldiers…with respect and awe.

Thank you so much for serving and protecting. You cops are unsung heroes for sure. You people behind the badge put your life on the line to save a single soul…

Even though you are not from my home town I appreciate you just the same as if you were a soldier fighting in Iraq etc.

Thank you, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! I don’t think I can thank you enough but there it is. I tried. (((hUG)))

Keep the faith,

Delia

Apr 19, 2009 - 1:48 am 4. Sparks:

> On April 1, in a display of common sense sadly
> rare in the LAPD’s upper echelons, the department
> enacted new rules governing when officers may
> drive Code 3, i.e., with lights and sirens.

Considering when this happened, are you sure this wasn’t an April Fools thing?

Apr 19, 2009 - 6:01 am 5. Paul:

There is a little problem with the notion that like it or not, even police must obey the edicts of politcal bodies. There are plenty of rules and laws that I know that cause injury and death, but they are the law never the less, and the agents of the law enforce them. ( see what happens when an otherwise peaceful LA cab driver has a gun for his protection and income for his family.)

Its too bad that in the work that police do that they too are under the same dynamic, but that is the world we live in.

Apr 19, 2009 - 6:43 am 6. Tim H.:

As a fellow police officer (in NC) for 15 years, I feel your pain Dunphy.

People routinely tell me that they wouldn’t want my job because of the stress from dealing with thugs and the inherent danger involved. They are often surprised, however, when I tell them that it’s not the danger or the daily interactions with the public that stresses me (and I assume a great deal of other cops) out.

In fact, the excitement, daily challenges and having to prepare for the unexpected is a big reason a lot of people choose law enforcement as a career. In my opinion, it sure beats sitting in a cubicle!

The main cause for stress, at least in my experience, tends to be “internal”. That is, when we have to deal with the CRAP from bureaucratic administrators or public officials that hinders us in the performance of our duty (example: the code 3 nonsense in L.A.).

Now, don’t get me wrong. There are EXCELLENT department administrators and city/county council members who genuinely want to help their police and sheriff’s offices. And, even those who are not as competent still have noble intentions if not the administrative ability.

But there are also those officials who use their authority to promote their own personal or professional agendas (re: Parks). They cave to political correctness after comments from patently ignorant critics and they don’t seem to care about the hindrance their actions place on the officers that work for them or the resultant impaired service to the community.

This internal stress and constant conflict with those who are supposed to be there to lead and support is what causes good cops to leave their departments or the job as a whole. It’s a damn shame.

Apr 19, 2009 - 7:08 am 7. Harry Schell:

Obviously, if the police have to take their time coming to your aid, dialing 911 is even less likely to produce a solution in time.

Parks lives in a nice safe neighborhood and no doubt has some armed security devoted to him.

I live in a less secure place and I am my own armed security. Obama et. al. would like to diarm me so to please Mexico’s politicians, whose gun ban isn’t working, with a gun ban here that wouldn’t work either. Gun bans make crimninal life more rewarding and safer.

These politicians are stupid, or insane. I dunno which, but I do know that my safety as a little person uncconnected to the political class really isn’t a pressing matter to these savants.

That is why the 2nd Amendment is in the Bill of Rights, so that government cannot take away the human right to effective self-defense. It isn’t and never has been about “guns”, except that firearms are the most effective means to ensure that right.

Apr 19, 2009 - 8:24 am 8. Jonathan:

Never underestimate how good moral in the department can be effective for the citizens and the overall decline in crime.

Apr 19, 2009 - 10:57 am 9. robotech master:

In some respects I understand why this is a good idea… many ppl seem to be under the delusion that the police are somehow “first responses” or there to rescue/protect the public. Many police police could care less about the public well being their primary focus is protecting themselves. We see this time and time again with police shooting un-armed ppl, cowardly hiding while mass killings are taking place not 20m away from them, and the attitude of “arrest them all and let the court sort it out because I won’t be held responsible for breaking the law or constitution because I as a police officer am the only type of person in the US that can claim ignore of the law as a legal defense”.

The simple fact is police are secondary responders who’s main job is to file paperwork about the event. Citizens are the first responders and should handle the problem be it gun or bucket or any other tool that is needed… as we move more and more toward an oppressive government we will see new and crazier laws that both effect citizens and the police… for an oppressive government cares little about saving 1 or 2 ppl… they are statistically unimportant.

Apr 19, 2009 - 11:29 am 10. NahnCee:

So how come I see three, four or five fire engines blasting along the streets of downtown LA and *all* of their lights are flashing and sirens wailing? Why is a fire emergency (or paramedic emergency) more of an emergency than a cop emergency?

Bernard Parks is the LA version of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton and as such should be given just as much heed and respect. If he *really* wanted to do something valuable, he’d start tracking how many deaths of black people in Los Angeles are caused by Mexicans and be asking the “why?” question about *that*.

P.S. A couple of weeks ago, sitting on a balcony at lunch time, I counted at least five cop cars blasting through downtown LA one right after another. At least two of them were SUV’s with insignia on them that indicated they were special or higher-up in some way. Never did see anything on the news to indicate what the great emergency was. Maybe they were responding to an emergency involving Bernard Parks.

Apr 19, 2009 - 11:35 am 11. The Big Dog:

The day that Bernard Parks left the office of Chief of Police was the day that LAPD moved into the 21st century. He, like most career politicians, holds a grudge for how he was shown the door, even though it was his own failures as a manager that largely caused his demise.

For Parks and the other anti personal responsibility naybobs: when seconds count, the police are minutes away… even rolling code.

Apr 19, 2009 - 12:33 pm 12. momof3:

I appreciate cops too. And I can guarantee, someone’s head would roll if I needed a cop and myself or someone else died because they weren’t “allowed” to respond quickly. I do view my defense and the defense of my family as my job first, but sometimes that just doesn’t happen. And it wouldn’t be the cop following rules who felt my ire, it would be the asshats who made the rules. I’d be worse than Cindy Sheenan about getting press attention on the subject.

I’ve always said, if you haven’t served, you have no real business making the rules for those who do. Be that military or police or whoever.

Apr 19, 2009 - 12:43 pm 13. DavidN:

Parks was, as far as I am concerned, the worst chief the LAPD ever had. Even Darryl Gates at least had support among the officers, though the community (or larger portions of it) didn’t like him. Parks’ constituency consisted, and consists, of the Black community, period. No one else likes him, and Blacks only like him because he’s Black, too. The funniest incident involving Parks is that while he was chief, detective novelist Michael Connelly had his main character, Harry Bosch, retire in disgust from the LAPD and become a private detective. When he took over, Bratton instituted a policy to allow officers who had retired while Parks was running things to return, without losing benefits or seniority. This made a few waves, but I understand they got some good guys back who had years in, and were good at their jobs. One of the returns was Harry Bosch (a fictional character), whom Bratton personally invited to return to the department in a speech he gave (in front of author Connelly) at the Police Academy, just after Bratton took over as chief. Connelly had Bosch return in his next book, and the character’s been a loyal LAPD detective (with the Cold Case unit) ever since.

Apr 19, 2009 - 12:48 pm 14. MichaelL:

As a cop, I detest politicians who either think they are a cop or think they know how police work is or should be done. I feel for my brothers and sisters in uniform and indeed all the legitimate, law abiding citizens of Kalifornia. That State has some of the silliest, most screwed up laws of anyplace I have ever been and that includes places in Eastern Europe. The former chief is just P*****d that the agency gave him the boot obviously because he’s an idiot.

Apr 19, 2009 - 3:53 pm 15. Cdat88:

The loud popping noise Bernard Parks keeps hearing is his head coming out of his 4th point of contact. Sadly, he keeps letting it return there. This is by far one of the worst ideas I have heard in a while. And that is saying something.

Apr 19, 2009 - 3:59 pm 16. Mark in Texas:

I remember reading a few years ago about how the city of Cincinatti cracked down hard on its police force after they felt that too many black men had been killed even though the people shot by the police were doing things like attacking with an axe. The result was that the police stopped pursuing criminals and the crime rate went way up.

An anonymous Cincinatti police officer was quoted as saying that if he aggressively went after criminals he might be injured or killed, if he wound up injuring or killing a criminal he might be sued, he might be fired, he might lose his pension or he might even go to prison. None of those bad things would happen if he spent his shift sleeping in his patrol car behind an abandoned factory.

When I read articles like this one I am surprised that every policeman does not share the attitude of that anonymous cop in Cincinatti.

Apr 19, 2009 - 4:32 pm 17. Jailguard:

Mark in Texas, that’s how it works. Institute rules on the patrol officers like this and they stop doing their job because it becomes to dangerous. Why would I go into a gang infested area knowing that if I get into a situation my back up has to stop at every light and stop sign? The answer is I wouldn’t. I would hide behind a abandoned factory like you said. Sure crime rates would go up but we can just put out bogus statistics like they did in Baltimore.

Apr 19, 2009 - 6:31 pm 18. Paul:

The National Fisheries orders ‘must fish days’ so you either go out in a Northeaster in the winter or lose your fish days. Building codes make houses twice as expensive as need be, so you get sub-prime mess and Section-8. Car safety Nazis make cars way heavier, so less fuel efficient, which the fuel efficiency Nazis want light weight and they all battle the air pollution fuel wasting air Nazis.

Police just need to join the club. Let the Harvard/Yale lawyers and woolly headed academics run everything. /sarcasm

Apr 19, 2009 - 8:00 pm 19. shmuel:

an emergency is an emergency, but too many innocent citizens have been hurt by young macho cops revving up their cars

Apr 19, 2009 - 8:59 pm 20. Curtis:

Just knowing that cops are minutes away has always been my mainstay. Thank God cops are always most concerned about themselves when in peril.

Dunphy when you can summon the outrage for the lame attitude cops display for civil defense, you’ll get some sympathy from me.

Just one more citizen sick and tired of cops and their rolling stops at intersections and their indifference to all other traffic laws.

Apr 20, 2009 - 2:10 am 21. Dave:

I sympathize with the cops’ predicament here, but I see an even larger problem: cops are too quick to ignore inconvenient laws and directives from civilian authority.

Apr 20, 2009 - 3:39 am 22. Sean:

I support the legitimate functions of government and the police like the next person. However, the reason that respect for police continues to decline is because “good cops” actively support and promote ignoring and violating the law. I wish I could ignore the stupid, idiotic laws that get in my way too. Unfortunately, I don’t have a badge and would be punished for not following the law. If you have a problem following the rules, maybe you shouldn’t be the one that is supposed to enforce them.

If you are in law enforcement and can’t follow the law, you are a “bad cop.” This is why 99.999% of law enforcement is corrupt; they won’t make each other follow the law. And then you wonder why crime is so bad in LA.

Jack Dunphy, you are a bad cop.

Apr 20, 2009 - 6:04 am 23. bigger diggler:

Cops harshly and brutally enforce the law against civilians, but cry rivers when the law is enforced against them.

Poor Jack Dunphy – won’t be able to use his lights and sirens when he needs to get to the donut shot quickly.

Apr 20, 2009 - 9:27 am 24. Jack Dunphy:

Sean: When I’m responding Code 3 to an emergency, I am indeed following the law. The changes recently enacted were merely an attempt to bring LAPD policies into conformance with what California law allows. That those changes were soon rescinded is not a reflection of their value but rather of the pettiness of the man who objected to them. I have little doubt that the city council will soon endorse what Chief Bratton and the police commission seek to do.

As for my being a bad cop, I’ve got a 25-year record that says otherwise.

Apr 20, 2009 - 9:42 am 25. Blackwell:

This author has been a welcome voice on many occassions. He is certainly no “bad cop” as one of the posters called him, and his professional voice is very impressive. But his last article (defending a cop that shot a cuffed suspect) and this one are off this author’s usually accurate criticism.

We love the LAPD but we read the news too: too many LAPD cars barreling thru stop lights pursuing marginal shoplifters or car thieves that could be monitored by helicopter only to collide with a family, killing or seriously injuring them. Rules were needed.

Plus, there seems to be enough backup around so that speeding thru intersections isn’t needed: there always seem to be swarms of motorcycle cops giving “gotcha” tickets to drivers for left turns five minutes before they become legal etc.

Apr 20, 2009 - 9:44 am 26. momof3:

“they won’t make each other follow the law. And then you wonder why crime is so bad in LA.”

No, we don’t wonder. We know. It’s because of all the ghetto-gangbanging (largely illegal alien) thugs there. If a person commits a crime, and an innocent person is accidently harmed by the police attempting to apprehend said criminal, that’s on the criminal who broke the law and necessitated the chase, not the cop. Period. If the cops did not follow, and an innocent person got hurt by this criminal later, the cops would be blamed then too. You can’t have your liberal cake and eat it too, so which is it? Cops job to get bad guys, or cops job to help little old ladies across the street safely? Pick one.

Bigger digger (smaller brain), what is with the really old, tired, inept donut thing? Is that seriously what you think they do? Try watching something other than cartoon network for a change before talking to grown-ups.

Apr 20, 2009 - 12:21 pm 27. rocketeer:

Are you freaking kidding me? I don’t know why anyone would want to be a cop in these urban areas where not only are the criminals against you, but so is your department and your city council. Do these council members not live in the same city that they represent? Don’t they want the police to be able to get to them should a situation occur where they are needed? Liberals are suicidal, and i just don’t get it.

And to all the cop-haters out there who think that these brave individuals do nothing but run around beating up the innocent, I would admonish you to remember that they are often the only thing that separates our society from complete anarchy. We, as a society, need to do EVERYTHING we can do to support the thin blue line.

Apr 20, 2009 - 12:25 pm 28. karlstro1:

God Bless and watch over our brave officers in blue. I wonder how Parks would feel if his family members were involved in a Code 3 call. People who lead in stupid ways do not live in the same areas they rule over. Vote him out.

Apr 20, 2009 - 12:44 pm 29. Michael:

Every, and I mean every City, Town, or Village council has at least one member who quite frankly hates police officers.

Some disguise it fairly well and some are quite openly hostile.

For the council member it’s usually the first time in their lives that they will hold some type of authority over who and what the police represent.

They gleefully take this advantage to make it hard on individual officers in smaller departments and the whole police department in the larger ones.

Thankfully most organizations can marginalize the anti-cop official.

Apr 20, 2009 - 8:50 pm 30. RobertG:

Then again L.A. is in California, the home of Arnold the Governator, Jerry Brown and the Bopsy Twin Senators. Fruit Loops are not just for breakfast-they get elected in California.

Apr 20, 2009 - 9:23 pm 31. Irwin Copper:

Mr. Dunphy has vaild points, as usual. For the cop haters, the negative comments are expected. The unfortunate detractors and the stubbornly uninformed that firmly believe the police exist only to oppress them have not paid attention over the last few decades. Law enforcement is more responsive, transparent, and community oriented than it ever has been. To write, “Cops harshly and brutally enforce the law against civilians, but cry rivers when the law is enforced against them,” miss the mark. There is no crying here. Just dedicated police officers trying to get to emergencies on behalf of the public, and for their partners. As Mr. Dunphy pointed out, many LAPD officers risk discipline trying to get to emergency calls by driving Code-3 when not unauthorized, because even though it is firmly within the law, currently, it is against LAPD policy to do so. So tell me again how a cop driving within the law and attempting to get through intersections and around traffic to help YOU or maybe someone you care about is crying a river? Most just want to get there and do their job, the right way!

Apr 20, 2009 - 10:18 pm 32. Bigger Diggler:

Cops hate not being in charge of everything. They hate the fact that they work for US, that we are their boss, that they are OUR subordinates. Today’s cops universally have the attitude that they are the jailers, and we are the inmates. The more corrupt cops think we are the enemy.

In the olden days, cops could get away with any misconduct by taking the stand in court and lying under oath. Unfortunately, the ubiquitous cell phone camera has put an end to their unchallenged dominance of society.

I am sure that LA is getting tough on the LAPD because now citizens, who are outraged by the activities of of their employees (cops) openly misusing the taxpayer’s equipment (Police cars) now have the video evidence to prove it.

Cops can’t lie their way out of it anymore.

Getting tough on cops and cop-bashing is an ancient and hallowed american tradition: When the Founders Amended the Constitution several times to reign in and constrain the police, it is some indication that they believed that cops could not be trusted.

No doubt it would be terrible being a cop. Underpaid, underappreciated, scorned in Court and on the street.

Today’s cops have richly earned every bit of venom they recieve.

Apr 24, 2009 - 7:58 am 33. Itsame Mario:

OK so yes common sense you should hurry in a emergency safety but what about those that just break the rules and cross a red light with no emergency. I do it, its against the law. Same BS with the cell phone. I served as MP in the service im familiar with rules and regs and why they are created and lets face more cops break rules then they actually follow. So to all those wondering why people sell drugs, wonder why cops let some drug dealers slide and not others. one thing i learned about this system we have nowadays is that its all about survival what you can do to benefit your life. Most of these cops wanna live like they are in movies, well get treated like your in them as well. KARMA is a you know what. it gives you what you put out. GL TO ALL PEOPLE IN UNIFORM, but remember dont ask the public to feel bad for you when you know you are doing wrong. Same thing goes for these dumbass cops caused face it there many. If you are drivin with your cell phone dont pull someone over and give them a ticket for driving with theirs

Apr 25, 2009 - 7:13 am 34. Tom Seller:

Gee why do all these laws and regulations have to get in the way of Cops doing their jobs? Why cant we just make it so Cops can just pick and choose which laws to follow on their own so that it will be easier for them to protect the public?
Let them use their lights whenever they want and let them fire their guns whenever they want and forget due process when its impeding an investigation. Dont you know Cops could put so many more people in jail if they didn’t have to follow the law? What is wrong with politicians?!

Jul 21, 2009 - 12:00 pm

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