Named as Somerville in the source article, but it did not give the state, in this video uploaded to Facebook on Monday showing what low levels to which police will stoop in order to issue a citation. This Police Department devised an ingenious method for catching “dangerous” criminals.
http://blog.rtba.co/police-entrapment-caught-on-tape/
Often, I agree with your assessment of the kind of screwed up things that cops do. However, in Somerville, MA (which I assume this is) as with many other municipalities and states, it is a long established moving violation for a car to enter a crosswalk when a pedestrian (cop or otherwise) is already in it. There is a four lane street with a busy mid-block crosswalk (supermarket on one side) near my house, it is not uncommon for pedestrians (including myself) to make it across 3 of the 4 lanes, then have some bozo ignore that the car to his left has stopped to allow a pedestrian to cross, and blow through the crosswalk at 40 as if it's not there. At least twice in the past decade a pedestrian has died in that crosswalk, despite clear signs, warning lights, etc. If that doesn't count as "dangerous" behavior which needs to be addressed, I don't know what does...
ReplyDeleteYou haven't agreed or disagreed on the matter of this video, and the undercover cop walking back and forth, with a cop car on the corner, just off camera, to get the people who don't stop for the (not real) pedestrian (undercover cop) and the flagrant entrapment caught on this video. How do you come down on this particular situation? For the entrapment, or against it. I'm for police doing their job professionally, and in a rare piece of news, I show it and applaud it here. (Proof is on the posts tagged law enforcement) but I'm vociferously against a trap that makes money, and does zero to educate or change the behavior of the public in general. You want to change people's behavior, have that SOB cop get out of his car, and stand in the cross walk and stop every car that ignores the law, tell them what they're doing wrong, and that they will never be given another educational moment, just tickets, and drive safer from now on. Drivers by the hundreds or thousands will learn to drive and stop safely, and that a particular crosswalk is now under police surveillance. Making a revenue generator is not productive, legal, moral, or more important to me, American and professional. The profession of police is not to generate revenue for the police dept or the city, they are to "serve and protect". Your thoughts please?
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