Officer Bob

Somewhere out inna UK, the local police busted into the wrong house. Look, mistakes happen in our line of work. Sometimes those mistakes don’t leave you with a cracked head, a bullet in the back or a falsified criminal record. In this case, you’d think the guy wouldn’t complain, but there’s just no pleasing some people – even when you’re nice enough to leave a note onna fridge.

CHICAGO — Just like a few weeks ago, there’s allegedly more Chicago police officers on tape doin’ a little freelance automotive commerce. I don’t believe a word of it – for one thing, supposedly the whole scheme hinges on insurance companies paying off for cars reported stolen. Lemme tell ya, those huge insurance companies didn’t get that big by writing checks. But hey, you believe what you wanna believe.

A second Chicago police officer has been indicted in connection with a scheme to have his car towed away and declared stolen for insurance money, the U.S. attorney’s office announced.

Grand-Central District Officer Scott Campbell, 42, of Chicago was charged Tuesday with fraud in a 2007 plan to have his Volkswagen towed and cut up for parts. Campbell allegedly sought to have the car taken away and then reported it as a theft.

CHICAGO – Chicago Police Officer Barbara Nevers just got suspended for demanding free coffee and pastry from Starbucks.  All I gotta ask is, have you ever tasted dat crap?  It’s like someone burned a shoe and put out da fire wit boiling water.  Nevers, dat’s when I’d pay for it, lemme tell ya.  I’d take a maple bar, though.

NEW YORK – The New York Civil Liberties people have sued the NYPD over records pertaining to shootings by the NYPD in the course of their crimefighting duties.  I don’t see what all the fuss is, myself.

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Civil Liberties Union has sued the New York Police Department seeking records identifying the race of everyone shot by city police officers since January 1997.

The NYCLU says the lawsuit filed Monday in Manhattan Supreme Court is part of its effort to determine if race has played an inappropriate role in police shootings.

The group says that about 90 percent of people shot by police in years past were black or Hispanic. The NYPD says the finding comports with the fact that 98.6 percent of all shooting suspects in the last six months and 97.5 percent of shooting victims were black or Hispanic.

The city’s Law Department says it hasn’t received the legal papers but would review them upon receipt.

Officer Bob takes us on a tour of the modern police command center, showing us who gets caught and who gets away.

 Officer Bob Episode #7 - The Complicated Art of Policing [1:52m]: Download (583)

NEW YORK – Critical Mass is an event where bicyclists take to the streets. Couple of days ago, there was one of these events in New York and one Officer Patrick Logan displays his displeasure with one cyclist by stalking then shoving him off his bike.

NYPD later put Logan on desk duty pending investigation:

A video of the incident posted on YouTube shows a group of cyclists traveling through New York’s Times Square before Patrick Logan, one of the two police officers standing in the middle of the street, sees approaching cyclist Christopher Long and shoves him off his bicycle onto the sidewalk.

Long, 29, was charged with attempted assault, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct, according to the complaint filed by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office.

Yeah, this clip clearly shows officer Logan was just doing his job, which is to show these fruitcake Critical Mass guys who owns the streets.

TAMPA, FLORIDA – These video cameras are everywhere, and they’re getting better quality pictures now. In this clip not only you can see a brave officer dump a guy in a wheelchair onto the ground, you can see another cop laughing about it later.

It’s not a laughing matter, because these guys’ll roll all over you if you give em half a chance.

WINNFIELD, LOUISIANA -

http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/07/28/taser.death/index.html

(CNN) — A Louisiana grand jury will decide whether a fired police officer should face criminal charges in the January death of a man who was Tasered nine times while handcuffed, the parish’s district attorney announced Monday.

Baron “Scooter” Pikes, a 21-year-old sawmill worker, had tried to run from police in Winnfield, Louisiana, when they tried to arrest him on an outstanding warrant for cocaine possession.

But a coroner’s report found Pikes had been handcuffed and on the ground when first hit with the Taser and might have been dead before the last two shocks from the 50,000-volt device were delivered.

…

Nugent is white; Pikes was black. His death led to demonstrations that drew several dozen people in Winnfield, where the population of about 15,000 is roughly half African-American.

In the year since Winnfield police received Tasers, officers have used them 14 times, according to police records — with 12 of the instances involving black suspects. Ten of the 14 incidents involved Nugent, who had no public disciplinary record.

Hey, even I got nothin to say about dis one.

CHICAGO – If you’re like me, the first thing that comes to mind when you think of street crime is a guy in a wheelchair. These rollin’ roustabouts ain’t foolin me – and they didn’t fool the seven Chicago PD officers named in a recent federal lawsuit.

A quadriplegic man sued the Chicago Police Department in federal court Thursday, claiming officers yanked him out of the passenger seat of a car in 2006, dragged him to the ground and beat him up even though he kept yelling “I’m paralyzed.”

“They were kicking me and punching me,” Daniel Casares said. “I was scared for my life.”

Casares, 28, can’t use his legs and his right hand — and his left arm and hand are “significantly paralyzed,” said his attorney, Blake Horwitz.

On Oct. 9, 2006, Casares was a passenger in a car driven by his brother. They were parked in an alley in the 10300 block of Avenue M in the East Side neighborhood.

Casares said he was waiting for a man to bring him money for a car deal when officers approached. The cops suspected the men were smoking marijuana and told them to get out of the car, Horwitz said.

The brother was handcuffed and taken away. Drug charges were later dropped, Horwitz said.

So this guy’s handicapped, but he can still use his arms to dial a phone to call a lawyer?  Come on.

CHICAGO – Officer Michael Ciancio,  anudder blameless defender of the public has been caught up in a FBI sting.  Allegedly, Ciancio is on tape shaking down Chicago tow truck drivers for bribes, diverting buisiness to the drivers in exchange for, uh, “gratuity”.

Allegedly, he’s on tape doin’ it:

At the direction of the FBI, the undercover tow-truck driver began to stall on his payoffs, annoying Ciancio, authorities said.

“I didn’t hear from you, I says what the [expletive] happened, you know,” Ciancio was quoted as saying. “I thought it was like Christmas and I looked under the tree, there was no gift . . . know what I mean?”

Now, come on.  Anybody can see this is a frame up – not to mention a vicious attack on Christmas.