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An Idea for Police Departments- Rotating Shifts
I recently had a discussion with a fellow CopBlocker about police accountability that led us to discuss rotating shifts. When you follow police misconduct you begin to see some trends emerging. One very simple trend I have noticed is that most of the greatest abuses of police occur in the evening or overnight. Putting this in the context of almost any other job that employees staff 24 hours a day illustrates a pretty simple problem. The desirability of the roughly 9-5 schedule often makes this shift a reward for good employees and those with seniority. It becomes the case that all of the best experience, knowledge and habits are concentrated into that sought-after time slot. This could be why we see most of the abuses occurring during evening or overnight shifts. They are literally the dumping grounds for the least experienced and lowest performing officers.
Compounding this concentration problem is that the experience, knowledge and good habits of the senior officers cannot influence or guide those in need of mentorship and supervision. As in any job, every shift becomes its own culture. A sort of closed circuit of values amongst a tight-knit clique. Camaraderie has long been considered a key code of law enforcement officers. Yet as the tides have turned and police require more accountability than ever, perhaps the buddy system just isn’t a good idea anymore.
If LEO’s were expected to work a rotating schedule of shifts staggered amongst individual officers, perhaps not only could we dilute the concentration of the most abusive officers into the later shifts, but we could diversify the opportunities for mentorship and supervision by more seasoned and reasonable officers. We could also break up cliques and micro-cultures, homogenizing the values and goals of the entire department, so that runaway sects did not repeatedly conspire together in corruption, abuse and misconduct.
Some other positive side effects of this might occur, as well. As officers gain a larger understanding of their community through diverse interactions with other officers and the public; it may become more likely they would develop understanding and empathy in the place of workday doldrum. It may also become the case that they are able to view larger patterns which help them to solve actual violent or aggressive crimes with actual victims, rather than turning their attention towards revenue generation and the cessation of boredom.
My first clue to this was something I learned as a teenager driving around aimlessly on gravel roads listening to fIREHOSE and Metallica cassettes and drinking too much Mtn Dew. Cops at night are bored. The night is long when you have nothing to do, and nothing is more draining to a person than the imposition of daily boredom. For this reason, instigating problems simply becomes a valid existential gesture of the chronically pointless be-badged.
Just a few weeks ago I was visited with what I found to be a classic scenario. I was leaving the house of some friends around 11pm. It was my first visit there and the home is located about 45 minutes away in the country. Because I had enjoyed some tasty beverages, my girlfriend was elected to drive. At the last minute our friends suggested a shorter route that involved more country highways. I was not jazzed about the suggestion, but it was decided we would try this route. Within a mile I saw the very bright headlights about a half a mile behind us and looked over to see we were traveling 45mph in 55mph max speed zone. Although we were well within our rights to do so, and this made her more comfortable driving at night on these deer-ridden roads, I warned her that it was likely a cop behind us and that our speed would suggest some suspicion to them.
My paranoia soon turned out to be quite warranted. The sheriff’s deputy soon caught up to us and began following very closely. His aggressive tactics made both of us nervous, causing us to miss a well-hidden turn we needed to make. This required us to backtrack by taking the next turn onto gravel and heading back in the right direction. The deputy, of course, followed. His driving became absolutely erratic. He would catch up to us at high speeds and then fall back; in what I believe was an attempt to scare us into making a mistake which gave him cause to pull us over. At one point he became so aggressive that he nearly ran into the back of our car and moments later just turned off down another road as if nothing had happened. At the next road sign I realized we were crossing county lines. He was out of jurisdiction. Had to go find another mouse to play with.
The situation seemed surreal and impossible to my girlfriend, who has never experienced this sort of behavior, but it was old hat to me. Nightshift gets bored and tries to kill time by instigating legal infractions, or at the every least, searching for them in every possible interaction. This is a practical reality of how law enforcement departments are ran. The same thing happens in every other 24 hour employment position. The day shift is the ‘A’ team and the evening shift is the ‘B’ team and overnights are the ‘C’ team scraps and hot rookie blood. It may seem innocuous, but such a pragmatic consideration might make a huge difference in the ever-spiraling and growing whirlpool of police misconduct.
A final bonus is that such measures might make police work undesirable for people who go into it for all of the wrong reasons. Rotating shifts are used by other employers to ensure greater efficiency, quality and thus ultimately value to their customers. As citizens we are the customers of law enforcement. While it is likely that the gangster thugs who run police unions would be horrified by my idea, the needs of officers do not outweigh the needs of the public they serve. If rotating shifts are able to solve some practical impositions of the current system, then it is worth trying out. Even as we evolve away from police and the state, we must ease their death knells so that we can sleep soundly and safely. Developing ideas and solutions is just as important a part of being an accountability activist as exposing and rallying against the police. In times of trouble, human imagination, creativity and ingenuity is our greatest resource. If you have a good idea for increasing police accountability, let me know. I may use it in another article. joshua[at]copblock[dot]org
In the meantime, share this article on your local police stations social media site. Maybe some of them will listen and create an example that other departments can follow.
An Idea for Police Departments- Rotating Shifts is a post from Cop Block – Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights
Source: http://www.copblock.org/120327/an-idea-for-police-departments-rotating-shifts/
How about someone ask the police to actually prove they have jurisdiction over anyone??
Why does everyone blindly accept that the governments laws, codes, statutes, edicts, rules and regulations apply to the private person without EVER questioning it?? Obviously there are going to be some idiots whose opinions are in lock step with government employees, their indoctrination to blind obedience is unshakable.. BUT CAN ANYONE ACTUALLY PROVE THEIR LAWS APPLY TO THE PRIVATE PERSON?? Can you??
IF you ask government employees if their CONstitution and laws automatically apply to everyone just because of their physical location within what we commonly refer to as a state, their collective opinion is that YES, their CONstitution and laws apply to everyone, automatically. BUT if you ask them what facts they rely on that PROVE their BELIEF that it is applicable to you, they have no plausible answer, they’ll hang up on you, feign as though they don’t understand the question, tell you that they aren’t going to debate with you “EVEN THOUGH ALL YOU DID WAS ASK FOR FACTUAL PROOF OF THEIR ASSERTION OF JURISDICTION” They’ll tell you that it’s common knowledge that it applies, they’ll even tell you to prove it doesn’t apply to you, this is an attempt to avoid answering your question!!, but they’ll continue to refuse to answer as to what facts they rely on to prove any of it applies to you, BECAUSE THEY DON’T HAVE ANY FACTS THAT SUPPORT THEIR BELIEF BECAUSE IT NEVER EXISTED!.. remember, they already told you it applies, it is their responsibility to prove it applies because they are the ones attempting to bring a charge against you, so the onus to prove it applies is theirs,.. It is not up to you to disprove anything applies!!!
Everyone has been told that the CONstitution and law automatically apply to everyone. it’s everyone’s opinion that it applies, everyone feels it applies, everyone believes it applies, everyone assumes and presumes it applies. HOWEVER; hearsay, opinions, feelings, beliefs, assumptions, presumptions and or so called common knowledge aren’t proof of a damn thing.
What factual, first hand, irrefutable evidence can anyone offer that proves that their CONstitution and laws apply to the private person simply because they are physically in what we commonly refer to geographically as a state.
Keeping in mind that slavery and involuntary servitude is illegal “per their own laws”. Further, no private person is a party to their CONstitution, nor is any private person a signatory to their CONstitution, nor has any private person sworn an oath to be bound by or to obey the CONstitution and laws.
Do you grasp the gravity of NOT being a party to some agreement, contract, compact or constitution??
When one is NOT a party to some agreement, contract, compact or CONstitution, then one is NOT BOUND TO OBEY IT OR ANY PROMULGATIONS ARISING FROM SAID INSTRUMENT! “those promulgations would be codes, policies, statutes and laws etc”
Who precisely is a party to their CONstitution?? The States are parties to the CONstitution. NOT YOU, THE LIVING BREATHING FLESH AND BLOOD MAN/WOMAN!!
Should you choose to accept the challenge to show your proof/evidence. You shall adhere to the following;
Your proof/evidence MUST be factual and personal first hand information, your proof/evidence shall not be comprised of hearsay, your opinions, someone else’s opinions, your beliefs, someone else’s beliefs, your feelings, someone else’s feelings, assumptions, presumptions, hypotheticals, conjecture, sophistry, fraud, lies, scenarios or what if’s.
Further; You shall not invoke laws, statutes, codes, etc, or their CONstitutions or any amendments to their CONstitutions, as that presupposes that it is applicable, when that is what is in question in the first place!
And since you won’t be able to show any factual, firsthand, irrefutable evidence at all, I included the following!!
the maxim applies: quod non apparet non est. The fact not appearing is presumed not to exist.