Friday, February 28, 2014

It's Not Like Poor People Are Really Human

Stealing from and humiliating homeless people is not shooting them dead in cold blood, or tasering them to death for nothing, but it reveals the same vicious, psychotic mindset that has no place in public servants being paid tax dollars to protect and serve the populace - the entire populace.

Carimah Townes at Think Progress:

Months after their conduct was discovered, two police officers were disciplined for making a game of stealing signs from homeless people in Midland, Texas — and many believe the cops’ punishment was not harsh enough to fit the offense.

In the town with an estimated 300 homeless people, investigators reported 8 signs in Officer Derek Hester’s patrol vehicle, and Officer Daniel Zoelzer was discovered to have trashed an additional 10. Both officers claimed that they took the signs after issuing trespass warnings, but no such warnings were recorded in 2013. Text messages between the two show the officers expressing concerns about being found out, although one of the men’s texts read, “Oh I don’t care lol I’m not worried.” After an internal investigation, which was not originally publicized, Hester and Zoelzer were suspended for three unpaid days.

Zoelzer and Hester were first probed when another, unidentified cop reported Hester for procuring brass knuckles and refusing to turn them in as evidence; the police department learned of the game when looking into the matter. The suspension occurred two months after the police department first heard about the officers’ misconduct, but despite backlash, Police Chief Price Robinson contends that the disciplinary measure was satisfactory.
Police Chief says three days' suspension is sufficient punishment for treating like dogs people they were supposed to be helping.

I think we've identified the source of the problem, and it's not homeless people.

Midland's also oil country, and an old hangout of Smirky/Darth's.  I'll bet Dubya and Cheney think what those cops did is fucking hilarious.

But Midland's full of poor-bashing amateurs compared to Georgia, where they want the poors to just die in the streets.

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