
“You may shut the f– up”: Dashcam vindicates cops confronting corruption - okket
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/04/you-may-shut-the-f-up-dashcam-vindicates-cops-confronting-corruption/
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olliej
See police can be protected by body cams!

That said there still seem to be a reasonable number of cases where body cams
coincidentally don’t record events where they’re accused of misbehaving :-/

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JumpCrisscross
"Q. Was Turner charged with any wrongdoing?

A. No. While the video shows her haranguing police over the traffic stop,
dropping the names of elected officials she knew, and her position as a Port
Authority commissioner who oversees 4,000 police officers, the Tenafly police
did not charge her with obstruction. But the chief of police made a call to
the Port Authority's Inspector General, which led to an internal investigation
and ultimately her resignation.

Q. Is the Port Authority taking any further action?

A. Apparently not. A spokesman said the Port Authority board was preparing to
form a special committee to review the findings of the Inspector General
investigation and take action at this week's board meeting, before Turner
submitted her resignation to Gov. Phil Murphy. 'Commissioner Turner's
resignation was appropriate given her outrageous conduct,' said the Port
Authority spokesman. There has been no indication that anyone else might
pursue misconduct charges against her for allegedly misusing her public
office."

[http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2018/04/who_is_caren_turner...](http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2018/04/who_is_caren_turner_and_how_did_she_become_the_sta.html#incart_2box_nj-
homepage-featured)

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j32fun
For those who want to skip to the conclusion of this confrontation, the
commissioner was asked to resign from the port authority after an internal
investigation by the port authority regarding her behaviour. She was formerly
the head of the Government and Ethics committee.

Source:
[http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2018/04/who_is_caren_turner...](http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2018/04/who_is_caren_turner_and_how_did_she_become_the_sta.html)

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otp124
I want to shake those officer's hands for not putting up with that attitude,
and for being respectful while doing it.

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ars
The biggest problem with government is that only people who want to be in it
are in it. And to want to be in it, especially unpaid positions like hers,
people expect to get things out of it.

Maybe we should think about appointing people to these types of low-profile
positions, much like how we do Jury duty.

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rrauenza
Her "status" didn't get her what she wanted, but I can't help but feel that
conversation went on quite a bit longer than it should have -- because of her
status.

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originalsimba
The story is backwards, the cops acted unprofessionally and disrespectfully
from the very start, which can only ever cause escalation of hostilities.
Hiding your vitriol behind flowery words does not change the intention or the
disrespect which is expressed to his subject. His victim is aware of his
disrespect, and so are "you" so don't pretend you aren't.

When you are a witness to verbal abuse, if the abuser disguises his abusive
language using strategically chosen vocabulary, you are _obligated_ as a
witness to recognize the abusive treatment. If you participate in the scene by
defending the abuser, pretending that you can't see the disrespect in their
choice of words, then you share in their guilt for contributing to the social
rot of our culture.

That's not a statement of judgement towards anyone, but rather a recognition
of our basic social obligations.

~~~
FroshKiller
I'm probably one of the most anti-cop people on Hacker News, and buddy, you
have it wrong. Even I can't find much objectionable about how these police
officers handled the situation.

~~~
originalsimba
I could only stand to watch about a minute of the video, but the two things
which stand out the most are the cop calling the lady "Miss" even after she
corrected him, in an intentional display of disrespect toward her.

The second big red flag is that he refused to answer her question. She asked
why they were pulled over. He refused repeatedly to answer, and told her to
ask the driver of the vehicle. Then he told her to check public records. These
people are paid to _serve_ us, not to belittle us and make our lives hell.
"SERVE" is not a mistake of vocabulary, it's an intentionally chosen word to
describe the relationship which police are _required_ to maintain with the
citizens of their jurisdictions.

The behaviors the cop displays are literally "anti-social", in the clinical
sense, and people who are "anti-social" cannot be trusted with positions of
authority in our communities.

Was the lady wrong to attempt to abuse her position? Sure. But the cops were
wrong for the same things that cops are _ALWAYS_ wrong for. They're control
freaks, they're selfish and self-centered, they diminish other people to
empower themselves. The quoted obscenity in the headline is a response to the
officer saying "You make take them now", is it any surprise this set her off?
He's bossing her around like he's her father, but he's just some nobody making
$25k/yr pretending to be something he is not, a hero.

Here's the only thing that matters, the lady is an upset private citizen. Her
behavior is understandable, considering the circumstances. The cop has no
excuse for his behavior. Everything else is frankly window dressing.

~~~
jlg23
> But the cops were wrong for the same things that cops are _ALWAYS_ wrong
> for. They're control freaks, they're selfish and self-centered, they
> diminish other people to empower themselves. The quoted obscenity in the
> headline is a response to the officer saying "You make take them now", is it
> any surprise this set her off?

Yes, there are idiots who, when given a uniform are "hard" to deal with...

But in this situation (all over, she is there basically as a taxi driver) I
can only say that I would have been much more blunt with her.

You say they are there to "serve us" and I actually mean that: The "us" is
better served if they don't engage in pointless discussions but do their
actual job instead.

> He's just some nobody making $25k/yr

He might be making only 25k but he is also making a difference. Do you?

~~~
tnegoshi
Not sure where GP got that 25K figure from but this is a trivial lookup:

[https://www.policeapp.com/Entry-Level-Tenafly-NJ-Police-
Offi...](https://www.policeapp.com/Entry-Level-Tenafly-NJ-Police-Officer-
Jobs/313/)

> Department: Tenafly Police Department

> Type: Entry Level

> Job Title: Entry Level Police Officer

> Salary: $44,500-$125,000

> Location: Tenafly, NJ

~~~
originalsimba
my info on cop salaries is heresay and like 20 years old, sorry I did not
adjust for inflation.

The point I was making is that police are underpaid, which accurately
represents the investment the public is willing to make toward their service.
It's shows how much value the public thinks there is in the work that police
do.

Which means people don't think cops are serving them properly, if that wasn't
obvious. As full time salaries go they are on the lower end of the scale.

The actual number is sort of irrelevant.

