Alright, ya Twhiner.

Twhiner n. a person that whines via Twitter. Also see: Chris Kaiser (Ckemtp).

Okay, to be fair, Chris asked me a question quite some time ago and wanted my take on a situation. I was (insert excuse here) and never got around to it...I just wanted to call him a name because it made me laugh. That's right I made myself laugh. This is not unusual.

At any rate, Chris wanted to know my take on this situation. For those of you who prefer the Reader's Digest version or simply have short attention spans (look, a rainbow!) the gist is as follows. A local church pastor (you read that correctly) asked a police Sgt. from the Indianapolis Metro PD to come give a talk at a youth symposium. Unbeknownst to the Sgt. (a white guy), the pastor had prearranged an "altercation" between two black males in the audience. The leader wanted to test the Sergeant's reaction. The Sgt. was injured during the altercation and had drawn his Taser in preparation to shock the involved parties.

So, here's my take. The pastor should have been arrested and/or sued by the department, city, and the Sgt. Of course, I'm relying solely on what the media and their well known ability to report accurately, but let's say for the sake of argument they're close to the truth. This was an inexcusable abuse of power by community leaders in an attempt to bait an officer into acting. I don't think they were trying to set up a "teachable moment" at all. I think they were trying to catch the Sgt. with his pants down and expose what they assumed would be a racist reaction. You know who that makes racist? The idiots that concocted this bullshit to start with.

If the Indy Metro PD and the city don't have the political will or the balls to sue these morons, I hope the Sgt. civilly sues the ever-loving crap out of them. If I were the involved officer, I'd shoot straight over the pastor's head to the church board/leadership and light me some fires. This "man of God" should be ashamed of himself and is lucky nothing worse happened. Lead your flock, pastor, don't waste your time trying to set up the men and women of your city that bust their ass on a daily basis protecting your right to pull stupid shit like this.

In honor of all my CoEMS friends

My last partner (who for some crazy reason has moved on to Investigations...*shudder*) was kind enough to show me the following video. I thought it dovetailed nicely with the Audio Crossover and Happy Medic's latest post in which he actually uses the phrase "mechanism of injury". Pure gold, this:



I'm sure once all you techno/EMS/Fire dorks (and I mean that in the most loving way possible, by the by) see this whilst you're in Dallas for the EMS expo, you will vacillate between cursing MC's wit and then drinking to said wit. Enjoy, kids, enjoy!

Audio Crossover

Our buddy, Happy Medic, and I are trying something a little bit different for our next iteration of "The Crossover". You'll forgive me if this doesn't work properly...I'm trying to figure out if the audio file will work correctly.

If all goes as planned, you should hear about a 30 minute back and forth between yours truly and HM. If it doesn't go as planned, blame Canada. (Just trying to get a rise out of a select reader...)

Please to (God willing) enjoy...

Brotherhood

Today, I had the distinct honor and pleasure of being a part of something very cool. But first, let me explain a little something about camaraderie. The world English dictionary defines camaraderie as "a spirit of familiarity and trust existing between friends". It is derived from the French word for comrade. I saw camaraderie and brotherhood on display this morning.

There is a strong familial tie in the world of cops. There are strong ties between units within the LEO world. I have never seen a stronger bond within a subset of law enforcement than what I experience as a Motor.

Today marked the end of a career for a local jurisdiction's motor officer. He was assigned as a Motor for 21 of his 26 (I think I got the 26 right...) years. He graduated from the CHP motor school in 1989 (I was in high school...couldn't resist) and never looked back. He discovered what I discovered four years ago...we have the greatest gig going.

This morning at 0630, 12 (six to a side) of us from four different jurisdictions lined up in front of his house, stood at attention, and saluted him as he rode out of his garage for his final day as a Cool Guy. His family stood by snapping photos and I hope we made them proud. We then escorted him from his home to his PD. Halfway through our journey, Fire jumped in (my Dad's old station, thank you very much!). As we entered the downtown area, all the lights came on and we gave him the send off he deserved.

After the procession, we all had some coffee and bagels while we shared stories. Now, I've been around retirement farewells before. There's the typical cake and/or plaque and some quick anecdote about that one time the retiree did something stupid and everyone laughs. I'm here to tell you there is something different when it's a Motor.

You won't see a procession of cars for when a beat cop retires. You typically don't travel to a different state and see a fellow detective and feel an instant kinship. Hell for that matter, you don't usually see a SWAT guy have a twitter/facebook account and interact with other SWAT guys. In my experience, there is something different (perhaps odd) about us Motors.

I was so very happy to have been a part of a procession that didn't involve a hearse. I was thrilled to be included in such a positive expression of appreciation and gratitude for a job well done. It's one thing to be noticed by the citizenry at large or even a supervisor. It is something altogether different, and I'll even say more special, when it comes from colleagues.

Congratulations on your retirement, Kris. I'm proud to have been a small part of today. Believe me when I tell you I am aiming at the bar you set for longevity on a Motor. You're an inspiration, sir.

Entrapment

The other day, I was sitting on the bike looking for your run of the mill CVC violations. The parking lot I was sitting in allows access to a four lane, major arterial road to both the downtown area and the freeway. It is shady. It was hot. There are no major visual obstructions between me and the road (and thus, drivers).

I was minding my own business when a car pulled up next to me and the driver, a rather grumpy older guy, decided he wanted to talk. About the manner in which I was "hiding". As soon as he asked his question, I knew where the conversation was headed as well as that it would end up here. Please to enjoy...

COB (Crotchety Old Bastard): Are allowed to hide here?

MC: Who's hiding?

COB: You are.

MC: I must suck at it what with you finding me and all.

COB (as he pulled out onto the public road): That's entrapment and it's not fair.

Okay...A)It's not entrapment, but we'll get to that in a minute and B) Fare is a four letter word that applies to the bus.

MC (getting louder as COB pulls further away): Actually, sir, it's not entrapment. Perhaps you should research the meaning. Oh....and put on your seat belt!

COB (as he pulled out): And what about that truck? (He was indicating a large truck blocking the #2 eastbound lane (by hand signals no less)...a classic blameshifter (since he wasn't wearing a seat belt) if ever there was one.)

MC: I'll get right on that one, sir!

Now, before some of you get your panties in a bunch...I got the truck driver to move his truck. He wasn't happy about it, but too bad, so sad. On to the crux of the post: entrapment. Here is the legal definition:

entrapment n. in criminal law, the act of law enforcement officers or government agents to induce or encourage a person to commit a crime when the potential criminal expresses a desire not to go ahead. The key to entrapment is whether the idea for the commission or encouragement of the criminal act originated with the police or government agents instead of with the "criminal."

If I'm just sitting around and monitoring a given area for violations, I am in no way inducing or encouraging drivers to commit violations. If anything, being out there should have the opposite effect. Entrapment, as well as the concept of "speed traps" (which we've covered extensively), is a common pitfall that the public and media at large misunderstand.

More simply put, I can sit/"hide" just about wherever I can fit my bike. There is no legal requirement for me to announce my presence, leave lights flashing, warn drivers, etc. I'm there to enforce the vehicle code. I will say that, typically, if I'm sitting in someone's driveway, I'll talk to the homeowner and make sure they don't mind. Just seems like the courteous thing to do. The fact of the matter is, however, that most folks encourage and appreciate it when I'm there because that means I'm slowing down drivers in their neighborhood!

I was really hoping that COB was going to loop back around to see if I had the truck moved or not...because I was gonna rag his whiny ass for not wearing his seat belt. Hell, I should have done it as soon as he pulled onto the public road. I just knew that if I did, I'd create a headache because he'd have complained and whined and I just didn't feel like dealing with his bullshit any further....besides, he gave me blog fodder. For that, I thank you, COB...but don't get cocky, 'cause next time it'll be different.

Ah, blameshifting

I'm not even sure that "blameshifting" is a real pysch term, but you get the point...and if you don't, you will.

I stopped a lady a few weeks ago for failing to yield to a pedestrian in a crosswalk. This violation is near the top of my "Wow, I'm an idiot driver" list. At any rate, the pretty lights went on, the loud siren sounded and I got to meet a new fan.

MC: Hiya. Do you know why I stopped you?
BS (sadly, it stands for BlameShifter...but I think we'll agree the other obvious term applies as well): No.
MC: Ah, well, you didn't stop for the ped in the crosswalk.
BS: I didn't see him.
MC: I would assume that to be true. Unfortunately, I did. And then I saw you almost hit him. With your big ass car. You know, the one that outweighs a pedestrian, even a huge one, by about ten times.

I left the slightly bewildered driver sitting in her car while I wrote out the citation. When I returned to her vehicle she was a bit, shall we say, incensed.

BS: How come the fifty times no one stopped for me, no one got a ticket?

Here are the list of responses that flew through my infamously sarcastic mind:

1. Because you've just got really shitty luck.

2. Because I obviously have it out for you.

3. Because no one cares about your safety.

4. Because I'm an evil prick and stopping someone for not yielding to you isn't in my malevolent plans for world domination.

5. Because no one wants to fuck up the office pool about how many times you'll have near misses before you get tattooed into next week.

My eventual answer was much more professional (and boring), but it equated to something like, "Ma'am I assure you that had I seen someone do the same thing to you that you just did to the other pedestrian, I'd have stopped them as well."

Sometimes, my inner monologue is so much more interesting than reality.