There are two things which cannot be attacked in front: ignorance and narrow-mindedness. They can only be shaken by the simple development of the contrary qualities. They will not bear discussion. – Lord Acton
Remember my column of October 19th, in which I discussed the misrepresentations made by suburban Pittsburgh cops in order to win public support for their valiant efforts to get handjobs from hookers and look at them naked before sadistically busting them? You remember, it was the one in which the cops claimed the typical travelling escort was intelligent enough to manage her own business and ambitious enough to make $5000 in a typical weekend, yet not as smart as the geniuses in the police force who know law better than lawyers do? They also boasted of their stupendous police power to get an erection while actually being repulsed by the diseased harlots who carry drug dealers in the trunks of their cars and spread them around the country like a “ring” of Johnny Appleseeds in fishnets. Well, they’re at it again; they’ve just discovered that touring escorts sometimes use reloadable Visa cards in order to collect prepayment for tours, though in typical cop fashion they paint this as a nefarious plot to escape “justice” rather than a reasonable precaution against being stood up. Here’s the Suburban Pittsburgh Swine Brain Trust again, courtesy of Brandy Devereaux and the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:
The world’s oldest profession still is cash-friendly, but police departments along the Airport Corridor notice a new trend in paying prostitutes: gift cards. “Instead of having a bunch of cash around, they have a handful of gift cards,” Moon police Chief Leo McCarthy said. “You automatically believe cash is an ill-gotten gain. But if you see a couple of gift cards, you might not think twice. It’s just another game people play.”
No, Einstein, it isn’t a “game”; the word is “precaution”. Those of us not on the public dole like yourself need to actually cover our expenses, and a reloadable gift card allows prepayment from a distance. It’s also a wise precaution against criminals like yourself who have a nasty habit of robbing people under cover of “law enforcement”. And please don’t project your warped suspicions onto other people; YOU may “automatically believe cash is an ill-gotten gain”, but normal people and the government of the U.S. refer to it as “legal tender”.
Since 2009, police arrested more than 100 people on prostitution-related charges in jurisdictions along Interstate 376 between the city of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh International Airport in Findlay, according to statistics from police in Moon, Robinson and Carnegie. Departments in Findlay, Green Tree and North Fayette said they’ve also noticed the gift card trend. “It’s becoming more difficult to find cash on them,” North Fayette police Chief Jeffrey Falconer said. Gift cards, sometimes called stored-value cards, easily are obtained and can be reloaded with amounts of money, McCarthy said. Visa, MasterCard and American Express issue the most popular types, he said…”The ones we’re working are still using cash, but (gift cards) may be next the next trend,” Findlay police Chief Jesse Lesko said. “They don’t like to give up the $5,000 or $6,000 they earned over a weekend.”
There’s the $5000 weekend lie (mentioned in the previous story on this subject) again; it’s clearly intended to A) make us look like drug dealers, and B) build on the envy of Joe Sixpack who brings home less than that per month. Note also the astonishingly narcissistic petulance of the cops interviewed; they seem to feel American citizens should happily allow themselves to be robbed at gunpoint by criminals with badges. I am pleased, however, that Lesko slipped up and said “earned”, thereby admitting that our work really is work.
Pittsburgh police have not noticed an increase of gift cards on prostitution suspects. “But, it definitely would make sense. In general, they would think it wouldn’t be as suspect as having a large amount of cash,” said Cmdr. Cheryl Doubt, who heads the bureau’s narcotics and vice division. “They’re smarter than we give them credit for sometimes.”
Well, certainly smarter than the average cop, anyway, not to mention more honest. We actually have to WORK to advance ourselves, Commander Quota. Notice how cops phrase everything in terms of suspicion and criminality? A female cop can’t think of any reason another woman might not want to carry big wads of cash other than to avoid “suspicion”. At least, that’s what she claims out loud. What about YOU, “Commander”? Would you carry $5000 cash in your purse while at work? No, didn’t think so.
Moon police made one prostitution arrest from 2004 through 2007, but made 111 since — including 54 last year and 18 so far this year…If they aren’t responding to specific complaints from hoteliers, detectives usually start investigations on the Internet. “We could be up there everyday, to be honest,” Falconer said. “They’ll always be there. It’s the oldest profession, but we’re being more proactive.”
Just as cops like to use the dysphemism “ring” to mean “suppressed business”, so they employ the euphemism “proactive” to mean “predatory”. Police departments all over have discovered that criminal accusations are a valuable way to enrich themselves at the expense of the public, so naturally they’re upset that people are starting to make it more difficult for them by avoiding the “suspicious” behavior of carrying the currency of the nation in which they live.
They’re just upset it’s fucking with their stealing. Instead of the cop being given a bounty for the cash he confiscated, now he has to wait for the department to auction the stuff he stole (for less than face value) and he gets less.
Whoever said crime didn’t pay wasn’t thinking big enough. Get the approval of a benevolent government and you can rape and pillage to your hearts’ content.
Yes I guess the Police do not like the (Gift Card) idea because they cannot steal the money after the invade and arrest the lady. Not sure why they think we would keep money in our location, but they do. I never did.
Remember ladies if you ever get a guy who wants to be the last call of the night or of your tour, check him out with extra screening. I caught many cops this way. I sent them to the wrong hotel, wrong room and had them slide the money under the door in a sealed envelope. They actually did it too..LOL!
It’s that whole mindset of pretending we’re “criminals”; one wouldn’t expect a businesswoman to have large sums of cash in her office, but one might expect a criminal to do so.
Thank You Maggie,
I yes I forgot why they would THINK that way. I always knew they would steal any money or possiably a client might, so I never kept cash on location.
I always try to think like my opponent, be it the cops chasing me, which does not happen anymore or the others at the poker table or the spinner in roulette. Even in Raquet ball.
Hugs …Joyce
Well. REAL criminals will steal money from anyone. More especially women as they are smaller and weaker.
And cops are the biggest bunch of scumbag criminals around now.
Oh Sheet!!!
I just thought of something!
My guess is they will pass a law that if a woman is caught with a visa gift card, she will be charged with prostitution. They did it with condoms!!!!
I still cannot figure out what “Suspected Prostitution” is. It is like saying suspected drunk driving, either you were or you were not. Does anyone know what this charge means and is it for real?
Joyce, they don’t need to pass a law to do that; as I discussed in my column of December 16th, there is essentially no standard of proof for prostitution so virtually any woman can be accused of prostitution on a cop’s say-so.
Police behaving like criminals is a growing problem, especially when it involves “asset forfeiture.” Usually these abuses target those suspected of violating laws that criminalize “non-violent” behavior(such as prostitution or narcotics.) It shouldn’t be a surprise that people are learning how to evade these crooks.
An extensive “big picture” article about the asset forfeiture problem:
http://reason.com/archives/2010/01/26/the-forfeiture-racket
Asset forfeiture abuse leads to “reverse stings” in Arizona…with deadly results:
http://biggovernment.com/tag/asset-forfeiture/
A whole lot of asset forfeiture abuse stories:
http://www.copblock.org/tag/civil-asset-forfeiture/
All of the budget fights going on in the states have revealed that “public servants” see it as their divine right to keep sucking the taxpayers dry. The one thing that has disgusted me more than the spoiled brat teachers unions are the police unions. They arrogantly assert that you can’t trim the police budgets because they actually generate revenue. You can see where their priorities are when they’re more interested in writing tickets and meeting quotas for federal $$$ than actually “protecting” the public.
PS: Maggie, you should consider submitting an article to reason.com (or other like-minded sites) giving more detail into how police steal from women suspected of prostitution. Most police initiated theft that I’ve read about has to do with drugs(real or imagined.) In fact, a lot of what you write would do well at Reason.
Also sorry for the accidental double post, please delete the first.
Thanks for the links, Robert! The reason I don’t submit articles to outside entities is that I don’t want to be in the weak position of approaching them rather than the strong position of being approached. But in the past few days I have been approached by just such a company, and we’ll see how it turns out. 😉
They have no interest in protecting the public, and further it’s been ruled in numerous cases (search Warren vs District of Columbia for a good place to start) that the police have no obligation to protect the public.
It is fiction that the police are there to protect you, it’s a legal fact that you and you alone are responsible for your own safety and defense. They attempt to maintain this fiction because if the public sees through this, they become merely a very badly outnumbered gang of thugs.
The police are nothing more than the King’s tax collectors.
I always think of them as Chinese bandits extorting tribute from villages, or gangsters demanding “protection” money. 🙁
Oh. Maggie. One other thing which is a bit off topic but you might allow the post. Up to you. Just in case your readers like Joyce like to call me a horrible misogynist? I just loaned a WOMAN USD2,500 to keep her flower show open in the Dallas Metroplex.
Gee? Why would I loan a WOMAN money? Because we met through a mutual friend as my marriage was ending. She struck me as a really nice woman so I was asking her opinion of what my wife was doing. ALL my ‘women friends’ were telling me my wife was being ‘amicable’ about the marriage ending. Lisha was the FIRST woman to tell me what a bitch my wife was and how I was too blind to see it. She was VERY critical of my wife at the time Jennifer was still my wife and still had options on the table. She was the FIRST woman to warn me that my wife was about to attack me in the courts.
I told her she was delusional and that my wife would never do that. I told her my wife loved me and respected me and that it would all be amicable. You can ask her yourself. After my wife attacked me and I was suicidal for a while? She took my calls and was a faithful friend to me during my darkest days even though we had only known each other a short time and only over the phone/web. We didn’t actually meet face to face for ages but she was a friend anyway. God sent her just when I needed her.
Because she was such a good woman and there are so few of them? We kept in touch. To repay her kindness I offered her ‘lobster dinner in the restaurant of her choice in london’ when she was over on personal business. We had a lovely evening. I was able to thank her personally for her time and effort in being my friend. If western women want to know what a GOOD WOMAN looks like? This is what they look like. If there were MORE women like this? I wouldn’t be so critical.
We have been talking on and off about her flower shop. It is a new business. First six months. It is always very hard to get a retail business off the ground. She needed someone to pay her rent on her shop to keep it going so I did that for her. She and her husband are on hard times due to the recession in the US and they simply couldn’t get the cash together for the rent on the shop.
So Maggie? If any of your readers know sex workers, or indeed, ‘clients’ in the Dallas Metroplex? You could do worse than buy some flowers from my friend Lisha and help her keep her store open. She’s trying really, really hard to make a go of it. And if clients are spending USD300 per hour? Or USD1000 for a lap dance? They can afford some flowers, eh? And no…this is not intended as a ‘plug for a friends business’. She is a good woman in need. It’s intended to show you that I help GOOD PEOPLE regardless of their sex. It’s just that there are not many WOMEN who are GOOD PEOPLE in the west any more. Sadly so.
And yes. Lisha is also very libertarian and has many times laughingly told me that I should date an escort or two rather than waste time and effort on ‘gold digging bitches’. She’s very much of your school of thought. I think you would like her.
Here is her site if any of your friends in the business wish to push some business her way and help her keep her shop open. She will laugh her arse off if sex workers become a significant slice of her customers! She is also selling to the local school workers!!
http://www.opusfloral.com/
I don’t buy flowers often, but I do live in the Dallas area and will keep your friend in mind the next time that I do.
Hi Sailor,
Thank you.
My friend makes great flowers. Indeed she does ‘Event Management’ and teaches this at college. But there are very tough times in the US right now. Not that I need to tell people here that.
As I said. It’s hard to get something like this started. 9 of 10 small retailers don’t make it to the end of the first year. My first business failed mostly because of the demand for cash from my then wife. (like a second house in another city).
So if ladies in the Dallas metroplex would buy a few flowers? It would really help her. I can hardly be accused of being a ‘woman-hater’ when I am asking for a few ladies to buy a few flowers from another lady! LOL!
Actually…if you talk to her? She will tell you I am actually a pretty nice guy! LOL!!!
Findlay police Chief Jesse Lesko said. ”They don’t like to give up the $5,000 or $6,000 they earned over a weekend.”
No shit? I didn’t like ‘giving up’ my house either. I guess ‘giving up’ is the new criminal cop euphemism for ‘stealing by law enforcement’.
I really despise cops. I really do.
I realised cops were criminals when I was 19 and booked for ‘speeding’. I knew I wasn’t speeding because I was really drunk so I was driving slowly on my motorbike. I took the matter to court because I was charged with speeding, not drunk driving, and I wasn’t speeding. The cop lied through his teeth. So I told the magistrate that the cop was a liar and that since he was under oath he just committed perjury. I demanded the cop be arrested and charged.
The magistrate laughed at me and said “When it is a police officers word against a kid like you we take the police officers word.” I told him “that is not the law around here. Your officer is required to provide evidence and he hasn’t, he’s telling you lies.” The magistrate then said “Well? Where are your witnesses to back up your story?”
I told him. “I don’t need witnesses. I am an honest man. I am telling you I was not speeding. It is HIS job to provide proof. I am innocent until PROVEN guilty, not guilty until proven innocent. You have no proof I was speeding. All you have is his word. And I can tell you this man is a liar. He’s a criminal. He’s a perjurer. I want him charged for this perjury. I will make oath to his perjury!”
The magistrate and cops just laughed at me and told me to pay the fine and the court costs or I would have my license taken off me so I couldn’t get to work. This is called extortion. I told the magistrate and the cop. “You are nothing but two lying criminals. I thought we had a justice system. I see that we don’t.”
When I went back to my office and talked to the older men? They laughed at me. They told me “We all know the cops are a pack of criminals. But what are we going to do about it, eh? They have wives and kids too. So they need their money. Just pay the fine and don’t antagonise them. They will just make life hard for you if you do.”
It’s just that they are MUCH worse now 30 years later. Rather than just write a few bogus speeding tickets they have stepped up to robbery, torture and murder. This is why injustice must always be challenged even over ‘minor’ things. If injustice over minor things is allowed to prevail then injustice over MAJOR things will follow.
Over the course of my life? Every time a cop has tried to tell me how ‘good they are’? I have told them flat out. “You are nothing but a bunch of scumbag criminals. I have no respect for you.” When I relate my story they say “Yes. We have a few bad cops. But that’s bound to be the case”. I always say to them “You so called ‘good cops’ are paid by our taxes to protect us from ALL criminals. You KNOW this goes on and you don’t weed out the criminals in your midst. That makes you just as big a scumbag criminal as these guys who give out false tickets. You disgust me. You are a disgrace. Clean up your own mess!!”
Mostly the cops accepted my criticism and hung their heads. But they never cleaned up their mess. I have been PERSONALLY saying that to every cop I met in Australia since I was 19. I did that for 20 years. It’s not like they can claim they haven’t been told.
I really, really despise cops.
I am with you on this one Peter. You are 100% correct.
Cops are the scum of the earth.
See Joyce,
there is something we can agree on!!! Joyce, this is my lawful notice to all police officers in Australia. We sent it to many police stations as well as delivered it to the PM Julia Gillard.
I have been making videos all weekend. I refer to police and politicians as ‘criminal scumbags’ over and over again. It will take me a few days to get them all loaded.
http://www.crimesagainstfathers.com/australia/Forums/tabid/82/forumid/97/threadid/159/scope/posts/Default.aspx
I’ll never forget the kindness of the 2 detectives that questioned me the night of my family tragedy. They were wonderful. I didn’t have any direct dealings with the police that night. Other family members of mine did and they never complained about anything later. I do remember that 1 small piece of evidence was missed by them, but in the whole scheme of things it wasn’t drastic. It just confirmed what 1 of the victims was doing before he was murdered. They had already found that out from other evidence, etc. The 1st thing the detectives did was give condolences. WONDERFUL! They’d already learned 1 of the basic courtesies that ALL who have had any kind of loss deserve. They were very gentle and patient with me. They weren’t arrogant or pushy. I’m very thankful I had this type of experience. There are wonderful detectives and prosecutors out there. Also bad 1’s. But, to constantly hear “they’re all bad” gets so tiring and is also so sad. Thanks for listening.
I am a criminal defense lawyer and nothing gives me a greater sense of satisfaction than exposing lying, corrupt police in court. It isn’t easy though … you have to have undeniable evidence such as a video or audio recording before it will be believed by a judge or jury. The fact is people want to believe that cops are good people. To believe the opposite would be too scary, and once someone realises that their faith in the police is misplaced, they can’t help question numerous other beliefs they have about society and the State.
Time and again, however, I have met people with awful tales of police misconduct, which upon investigation turn out to be true. In each case the police have always lied to protect themselves and their colleagues, and further victimised my clients in the process.
I do believe that some police are good some or most of the time. There may even be a few who are good all the time (I have never personally met one). Unfortunately there are a great many who are really bad at least some of the time, and a lot who are bad most of the time.
Welcome to the blog, Thomas! I also believe that there are some good cops, but that belief derives from the “all rules have exceptions” principle; like most prostitutes, the majority of my encounters with cops have been extremely negative.
I had an encounter earlier this year with one of those assholes. Luckily, my uncle(a police officer in another state) has told me in the past to protect myself durin such encounters by refusing searches, saying nothing, and recording when possible.
First ten minutes:
The rest:
I am fighting the speeding ticket even though it may cost more than surrendering(215$). He clearly didn’t stop me for speeding(and no I didn’t have drugs either.)
Any advice would be appreciated… I think hiring an attorney would cost more than it’s worth.
Hi Thomas,
nice for you to be here.
When I have challenged cops that “you know these crimes are going on and you won’t do anything about it and that makes you just as big a scumbag as the guys committing the crimes”.
They pretty much always just hang their heads. When men come across me? They know they have met a man who will ‘tell it like it is’ and never take a backward step. I have a very strong personality and I don’t tolerate scumbags.
I had not known that cops are roughing up the prostitutes like they are roughing up the ex-fathers.
I have two family members that are cops and they are SCUM too. I know because they were telling how they went out to home break ins and if the owner was out of town, they stole what the robbers did not steal!!! Now that is a fact. They did not care and said insurance will pay for it.
I too have NEVER met ONE “good” cop.
Human are easily corrupted.
Expecting better of cops is expecting humans to not be human.
So what do we do? Wait until “police officer” joins the list of jobs that can be replaced by machines?
Reducing the number of things people can be arrested for might help. Fewer people to harass or shake down, and the ones left are genuinely dangerous. Might discourage those who join up because they want to swagger and kick ass. Getting rid of asset forfeiture might help too. Maybe it wouldn’t be worth it to join, for those already corrupted before the fact.
Absolutely right, Sailor. Reduce the number of crimes, eliminate all consensual crimes, outlaw asset forfeiture and raise the bar on what people can actually be arrested for, then require that ALL police interactions with the public be fully video-recorded without the cop having any option to turn it off; 24-hour constant eavesdropping on every single thing a cop does would go a long way toward eliminating corruption.
Ah, should have thought of the video recording thing myself. But I didn’t, so I’m glad you did. There are plenty of jobs where you are on camera all the time: check-out lines come to mind. I can’t see any reason cops should be immune.
Now somebody’s going to shout, “What about undercover work?!!?” Well, if you take out prostitution and drugs, they won’t be working undercover very damn often. And yeah, there will be some exception made for that (assassins, somebody trying to smuggle plutonium, etc.). But with consensual crimes removed, the people being arrested will be able to afford lawyer dream teams, so they will have some protection. And of course, the cops will have the money and manpower to go after the plutonium smugglers, instead of escorts and ecstasy eaters.
And gamblers.
Ah yes, and gamblers. Another example of constantly-watched-on-the-job (the eye in the sky doesn’t just watch the gamblers; it watches the casino employees).
ah yes, this was my latest foray into being robbed…er, providing the government with revenue….er, oh yeah I “broke the law” and so must pay my debt to society….that’s it. Right.
http://sincerelykellyjames.wordpress.com/2010/12/21/on-paying-to-get-fucked-prostitution-of-the-constitution-part-i/
oh and everyone/anyone please do me a favor over the next couple days and remind me to pay my monthly $50 towards my fines…I have this awful tendency to forget these sorts of things, probably due to some psychological mechanism of repression such as court/police related PTSD. I sometimes joke that I’m gonna organize a class action lawsuit against local police on the basis that fear of police is preventing citizens from being able to conduct their lives 🙂
Though I personally think gambling is poison.
Me, too; I would never, ever spend a dime on it. I feel the same way about cocaine; I think it’s utterly revolting. But my aversion to an activity is not valid grounds for my preventing others from enjoying it if that’s their thing.