I Am Guilty!

[Guest d00g]

I was recently confronted by a loved one about some references I made in my posts about Law Enforcement and how it seemed that I generalized LE in a negative way. My thoughts flashed on family members and friends that I love and respect who once were or still are in LE. My initial response was that I have much respect for LEO as I do for fire fighters, paramedics and other first responders. Being familiar with the toll such a position takes on a person who takes being a public servant serious, well...it all made me pause for thought.

 

I'm not the brightest bulb so much of what I try to convey gets lost in translation as I stumble around my wording and keyboard- I mean no harm with my posts. Regardless, I must say in all honesty that I do have a negative attitude and it sucks that I feel that I can justify it. Those who know me, family and friends, LE associates included, know that I am a law abiding guy who is doing his best to care for his wife under some very challenging conditions. Our medical needs dictate the need for alternatives to standard pharmaceutical pain control and health care- thus my involvement with the MM community. My frustration and concern over the abuse of power by LE is acknowledged and forgiven by those who know me best.

 

When I boil it down, my angst is with special interests, those who craft the unjust laws, their deceit, and with the agencies and individuals who implement the bogus policies and abuse their power in enforcing them. I loose site of the compassionate understanding I try to instill in my life when I read or hear about what is happening to our community. The fact that law abiding citizens within the medical marijuana community fear LEO more than real criminals... is disheartening. When a man can be shot dead for trying to protect his family and home with a golf club from masked intruders (DEA) in the middle of the night; When a child can be psychologically damaged for the rest of her life after being driven out of her sleep at gun point and being forced to witness the family dog being shot by those who are supposed to protect her...all for a plant....is nothing less than revolting. The reality that LEO can invade your private residence or business and steal your personal information and money without being charged for a crime is criminal in and of itself. The increase in occurrences of situations like these, (Oakland Co., Petoskey...) cause me to generalize those behind the masks and badges in a negative way- that those who are supposed to protect and to serve their community are the ones who pose the greatest threat.

 

It is well known that there are growing numbers in LE that do not agree with the current war on drugs even though some continue to accept the illusion that their hands are tied to the unspoken rule of protecting their own. And there are those in LE who do not buy into the storm trooper mentalities and tactics being used against non violent law abiding medical marijuana patients and caregivers. For me, I think that by acknowledging the dedicated women and men in LE- the individuals and departments whose efforts stand out in contrast to those who abuse their positions and demean the will of the people will help close the social divide. I do not wish to perpetuate the divide through my negative attitude or posts...I realize I have to manage my 'us vs. them' attitude by acknowledging the good cop as well as exposing the bad. I apologize to those in LE, to anyone for that matter who I unjustly criticized. If I implied that all LEO's are the same, I am wrong. It would be the same as implying that those within the cannabis culture are all criminal. This is not the case. Forgive me.

[phaquetoo]

Wow!

Nice post! my dad is a retired cop (st.clair shores) and I have a few relatives that are cops! I am totaly against leo at this point and it does hurt, I love my dad and my dad was a good cop, he was never in narcotics or a detective, he was a police officer and he liked being involved in the union, he was president of his assoc for 18 yrs and pres of p.o a. m for 8 yrs! back when there was only 1 poam and the fop!

 

First off it is mostly young gunhoe cops that get involved in the kinds of tactics that these legal militia groups have! They are yound dumb and full of c-m as far as im concerned, and they are following some ones lead who is just a few yrs older than them, who didnt work with mm in his part of l.e!

 

Im sorry to say this, but i think it is going to take a few cops and a few c.g/pts to get killed before these kind of raids stop! Im sorry I hope it is more cops that get killed pillaging us pt's than pt's getting pillaged! any one that signs up for that kinda of job thinks they are dealing with local scum bag dealers, not every type of person we have in society, the milk man is going to protect his family, so is the electrician, plumber and painter,mm pt's come from all walks of life, and one day a team of young gun hoe cops are going to get shot, and their kids are going to lose their mom or dad, fair is fair in love and war, if you break into my house in the middle of the nite and I can get my gun, I am going to shoot to kill! not injure. Kill!

 

Im afraid very soon we are going to lose more pt's to these immoral people who dont beleive in we the people!

 

Well we the people need to stay home and send more leo's out of our homes in body bags before any one is going to listen, rite now it is all about money, wait till the countys and state have no more money because of lawsuits from cops familys, and patients familys! (for uncalled for deaths of innocent people)

 

Peace

FTW

Jim

[+washtenaut]

Very good post. I agree that something is terribly wrong when people are too afraid to call the police for help.

 

I was thinking, with all the technology available couldn't all police raids be video recorded by a mini-cam on the officer's shirt or hat? I'm sure there would be ways to cheat the camera, but if all encounters were video recorded maybe the public would have more faith that the police wouldn't abuse their power once inside their homes.

[smokeythebear]

all raids are filmed by a cop (I'm not a cop but I'm 98% sure there all recorded), if you want a copy you have to do a freedom of information act. Thats how people got the video of the golf club guy and also the dog killings from a few months ago.

 

 

If you know of somthing that went down in your area all ya gotta do is a freedom of info. act. as long as the case is done they have to give it to you. The cost use to be cheap to free, a lot of places like my court house now charges what ever the lowest paid person is that can run copys per hour, to pay for them looking for the info and copying. forget what it was but it's alot now to have done. asking for a simple raid vid. shouldn't run that much to copy and be fast/easy for them to find.

[David1946]

Wow!

Nice post! my dad is a retired cop (st.clair shores) and I have a few relatives that are cops! I am totaly against leo at this point and it does hurt, I love my dad and my dad was a good cop, he was never in narcotics or a detective, he was a police officer and he liked being involved in the union, he was president of his assoc for 18 yrs and pres of p.o a. m for 8 yrs! back when there was only 1 poam and the fop!

 

First off it is mostly young gunhoe cops that get involved in the kinds of tactics that these legal militia groups have! They are yound dumb and full of c-m as far as im concerned, and they are following some ones lead who is just a few yrs older than them, who didnt work with mm in his part of l.e!

 

Im sorry to say this, but i think it is going to take a few cops and a few c.g/pts to get killed before these kind of raids stop! Im sorry I hope it is more cops that get killed pillaging us pt's than pt's getting pillaged! any one that signs up for that kinda of job thinks they are dealing with local scum bag dealers, not every type of person we have in society, the milk man is going to protect his family, so is the electrician, plumber and painter,mm pt's come from all walks of life, and one day a team of young gun hoe cops are going to get shot, and their kids are going to lose their mom or dad, fair is fair in love and war, if you break into my house in the middle of the nite and I can get my gun, I am going to shoot to kill! not injure. Kill!

 

Im afraid very soon we are going to lose more pt's to these immoral people who dont beleive in we the people!

 

Well we the people need to stay home and send more leo's out of our homes in body bags before any one is going to listen, rite now it is all about money, wait till the countys and state have no more money because of lawsuits from cops familys, and patients familys! (for uncalled for deaths of innocent people)

 

Peace

FTW

Jim

 

 

I agree totally that an unfortunate set of circumstances will culminate with the loss of a life and it will most likely be a patient .

 

With all major cities hiring only ex-service members with combat experience since the late 60's for their SWAT and special operations teams its clear that our civilian police forces have been militarized and since then the number of deaths during police raids of unarmed citizens has increased.

 

They need to get cops back on the walking beat in the neighborhoods so they can get to know the neighborhood and who is supposed to be there and who is up to no good.

 

Every single time I have been in a situation when the police needed to be called guns were drawn and or people were handcuffed including me for no reason. The attitude they have that everyone is guilty has caused nothing but trouble for them.

 

How are people supposed to feel when they know automatically the police suspect them and consider you a suspect.

 

Their bias blinds them to the truth.

[phaquetoo]

I agree totally that an unfortunate set of circumstances will culminate with the loss of a life and it will most likely be a patient .

 

With all major cities hiring only ex-service members with combat experience since the late 60's for their SWAT and special operations teams its clear that our civilian police forces have been militarized and since then the number of deaths during police raids of unarmed citizens has increased.

 

They need to get cops back on the walking beat in the neighborhoods so they can get to know the neighborhood and who is supposed to be there and who is up to no good.

 

Every single time I have been in a situation when the police needed to be called guns were drawn and or people were handcuffed including me for no reason. The attitude they have that everyone is guilty has caused nothing but trouble for them.

 

How are people supposed to feel when they know automatically the police suspect them and consider you a suspect.

 

Their bias blinds them to the truth.

 

 

it is truly sad that my 11 yr old boy wouldnt call the cops if his life depended on it! When I was growing up in the city cops were our friends, firemen were kewl, we could always go to a fire hall by the base ball diamond and get a drink of water, and say hi to the guys, fire men built us ice rinks in the winter! cops were our friends also! now alot of the citys are doing the public safty thing, where the cops and firemen are the same people, they do both! I plain and simply dont like any younger cop, most of the ones ready to retire are all most kewl, but the old time ones like my dad and his dad, are gone, no longer our friend in the community, we see them out drinking with friends and know they drunk drive, but my self cant medicate and drive for weeks till its out of my system, and most mm users that do drive are not the ones running innocent people over, or causing horrible accidents, no one should drive under the influence of anything! but id rather face a weed driver than a drunk driver anytiime!

 

The laws are only for US! not the people that enforce them, Didnt You know?

 

Peace

FTW

Jim

[+Silverblue]

The views expressed here don't necessarily reflect the views of the MMMA, which means, if you're gonna use a gun to protect yourself and your family, you're acting on your own. You know that, I want everyone else to know it, too. It breaks my heart to read Jim's post and know there's truth to his words. People should have a right to protect themselves and their family, especially when they're law abiding citizens but I'm not saying to go do it. In a world where violence seems to be the only message some will listen to, it makes me wonder. I understand these feelings and need for self defense, if I could disarm a gunman, I would, too, and see them brought to justice. Disarming is likely what the man with the golf club was intending to do, not kill them, but I didn't read the thread or see the video. IF I were capable of defending myself I would keep it to myself, advertising it might send a message to them to dare them to come over, spelling disaster. I agree that anyone in any profession would defend themselves and families, too. It's a sad realization that violence may SEEM TO BE the only way, though it's NOT our way of choice... Someone else made that choice that pushes some into doing what they feel is necessary. It's human nature, not an endorsement. How often have we asked for open dialogue and got nothing? Diplomacy is better, if only certain people were willing to listen and work with us instead of against us. How often have I said this? I forgot. We're trying to be reasonable. Violence will reveal one thing, and it may not be who's right. It's scary to feel that way. As much as I dislike those who abuse us, killing them is only a short term solution, there's always more, they'll defend their own, just as we must, and hope we can do it peaceably. I pray I never know the day those self defense sentiments are tested in my life. The trauma would kill me, if their bullets didn't. All this for a PLANT- How sad.

 

I know there are good leo's out there too and try not to generalize. If someone treats me with respect, I'll respect them, I know the abusers don't represent their entire group. If someone betrays me, they lose my respect. Simple as that. The media is as much to blame as anyone for glorifying violence, especially in those cop reality shows.

Sb

[Croppled1]

What a nice post and follow up thread . We can win back sanity in Law Enforcement and medical care . So many of us care and we are learning from each other . Thank you to everyone for making my day as I too had/ have family and friends in Law Enforcement and have been guilty of fear and loosing all faith at times . I will fight those feelings and for change through peaceful means in proper channels . The President pointed out in the State of the Union a important fact and I paraphrase because I couldn't copy the words fast enough as he spoke " That no matter how contentious , divisive and messy our democracy may be we all believe in the rights of our Constitution . No matter who you are we all have opportunity . " I know were being heard as a group and people that come after us will have better oportunity and quality of lives because of the peacefi; way people are working and leading by example within the system for positive change in how society treats patients in the Medicinal Cannabis Community . ..

[+washtenaut]

Very good post. I agree that something is terribly wrong when people are too afraid to call the police for help.

 

I was thinking, with all the technology available couldn't all police raids be video recorded by a mini-cam on the officer's shirt or hat? I'm sure there would be ways to cheat the camera, but if all encounters were video recorded maybe the public would have more faith that the police wouldn't abuse their power once inside their homes.

 

This is why I am starting to think that every police action should now be recorded

 

Westland police overreach their authority, beat up a guy, accuse him of attacking them, and then get caught in the lie because one of their microphones was left on inadvertantly.

[+420Atheist]

Great thread with reasoned post. My boss is former LEO and he supports the medical use of marijuana. I know there are good LEO out there who see the hypocrisy of stealing from people who have worked their whole lives for what they own. Still I fear LEO even though I know the police in my township I don't know if that would be enough to stop them from stealing my stuff to support their department another month or two.

[_abbenormal]

hello all

 

good topic... i too know a lot of leos and some of them i feel are good but i still have a problem with them in general... even the good ones are bad sorry to say... when you dont speak up and address the problem within the system your allowing it to happen then how can you be a good cop... im sorry that the good ones are being bullied the same as we the people are... i wish they really were out here to help us but there not... there for the law and only that and have the backing to lie cheat and steal from us under the name of the law and being for the most part not responsible for there actions... this will never change they are and have showed us they will still be bullies to the public when they think the law is being broken and will use all the force they want... not what is needed but what they wish to use as they have shown by being masked just like a terrorist is... this is how to be in control and most all leos like that control... anyway just my though i am scared of them and the government as they will and have used what once was private against us all...

 

 

abbe