When the officer released her neck, Ms. Callaway gasped for air. She could not see because there was a bag over her head, but she felt the weight of a boot in the crook of her arm, which, along with the rest of her body, was still tied to the chair. Ms. Callaway was suspected of committing a misdemeanor.
Last week I mentioned that Mistress Matisse (who, BTB, provided the first video below) says the universe put her in my life to bring me more fun and silliness. So this week I’m repaying her a little with the second video. Everything above the first one is from Radley Balko, and the links between the videos are from Wendy Lyon (“Swedish”), Grace (“voluntary”), Angela Keaton (“6”), Brooke Magnanti (“marry”), and Skye (“police” and “random”).
- Cops beat grandfather for walking while Indian.
- Never call the cops for any reason whatsoever.
- The rise of the machines.
- The law is the law.
- The Swedish model.
- But it’s voluntary, really!
- Cops draw guns on a 6-year-old.
- I can think of worse reasons to marry.
- Some think this isn’t a police state yet.
- Yet another cop “accidentally” shoots a random person.
From the Archives
- Valentines, water, cops, maps, overcriminalization, politics, librarians, spiders, TSA, Mr. Rogers, the Incredible Hulk and Hello Kitty.
- Robots, puns, doors, police state, Twitter, surveillance, Prince and the Rolling Stones.
- Melissa Gira Grant on how the “gypsy whores” myth harms sex workers.
- When the absurdity of the idea of consensual crime is blatantly obvious.
- Considering it’s in an Irish newspaper, this is nothing short of amazing.
- A Chinese province has stopped sending prisoners to labor camps.
- Brooke Magnanti on the evangelical basis of “sex trafficking” myth.
- Queensland cops want fetal rights to trump those of the mother.
- A must-read profile of neofeminist anti-porn crusader Gail Dines.
- How the Irish government enables the awful Magdalene orders.
- Only “authorities” have the right to determine what’s harmless.
- A brief history of Monto, once Europe’s largest red-light district.
- The “Juju sex slaves” myth just keeps on going like a zombie.
- How a very experienced escort deals with a nasty competitor.
- In the press freedom index, US ranks with Romania and Haiti.
- Eric Berkowitz , author of Sex and Punishment, on Reason TV.
- Filipino sex worker rights advocates call for decriminalization.
- Time bravely denounces police violence against sex workers!
- Only 27% of articles on porn addiction contain actual data.
- The looking-glass world inhabited by Irish prohibitionists.
- Mark Bennett on teaching our daughters self-ownership.
- A Nigerian NGO’s cop-assisted crusade vs sex workers.
- The real effects of political crusades against sex work.
- Female lust has nothing to do with genital blood flow.
- Wendy McElroy asks, “Is America a Police State Yet?”
- Totalitarian laws always spread from place to place.
- Dutch close 19 prisons due to declining crime rates.
- An erotic video game with a very special controller.
- MSP Jean Urquhart did something extraordinary.
- For those who think legalization is a good idea.
- An imperfect attack on the “rescue” mentality.
- The Push to Decriminalise Sex Work in Kenya.
- Sex workers protest an “end demand” event.
- Underage Sex Worker Murdered in California.
- How can I get over being sexually stunted?
- My previous columns for Valentine’s Day.
- A protest against mass surveillance.
- Tracy Clark-Flory on “sex addiction”.
- Wisconsin expands its police state.
- New findings on Fredric Wertham.
- A short tale about perspective.
- Rapist cops of the week.
- CISPA is back again.
- Sperm competition.
- Soiled Doves.
Well there’s never any penalty, is there?
So if you’ve got the gun and the urge, why not?
I’ll probably regret opening this can of worms, but here goes:
It’s been well established that sex workers will not get the rights and respect they deserve until non-sex workers see them as human beings, and therefore cease dehumanizing them. We know dehumanizing others is bad, correct?
However, I sometimes wonder if, in our (not unjustified) anger, we turn around and do the same thing to LEOs, dehumanize them. I realize the LEOs in the stories shared here and elsewhere often bring it on themselves. However, when I read such vitriolic reactions to horror stories here, on facebook, in comments sections on mainstream news sites, etc., I ponder the following. Let’s say I was a LEO who wants to be good, blow the whistle, etc. Unless I have the moral strength of a Washington or Jefferson (something that is exceedingly rare), how much support could I reasonably expect to get to actually change things? My ‘bad’ co-workers won’t, and if everyone who isn’t a LEO sees me as some inhuman monster who surely has some ulterior motive that negates any good I may want to do, then what?
I’m sure I’m proceeding from some logical fallacy that proves I’m quite wrong. I humbly await being told why.
You make a good point and I’m often guilty of rhetorically conflating police as an institution – which I despise – with police as individuals – with whom I have no specific issues. However I do think the institution both attracts and creates a disproportionate number of arseholes, so generalising is always a temptation.
In fact one of the main issues I have with the institution is what it does to the individuals, as I hope this post demonstrates.
I think if whistle-blowing or reforming cops manage to get their stories out to the public they can expect a fair amount of popular support, as demonstrated by Frank Serpico in the US, Brian Paddick in Britain or Michael Drury here. Of course going public can expose them to extreme danger from their colleagues.
There’s a 1980s Australian drama series called Scales of Justice that, although fictional, provides a compellingly authentic portrayal of NSW police culture in the 1980s (and I think I’m fairly well qualified to make that call). I don’t know if it’s available outside Australia but I highly recommend it both for its insights into how police corruption operates and is maintained and for its entertainment and production values. I defy anyone to watch the first episode and come away without a strong sense of compassion towards rookie cops who try to maintain their integrity in an almost impossible work environment.
What the Wikipedia entry fails to mention is that there were four, not three, episodes written. The last one exposed the way interaction between the media and police serves to corrupt both, but for some reason the ABC refused to fund it and it was never produced.
BTW, one of my best mates is a former undercover cop turned whistleblower (now an academic) and one of his best mates is one of Australia’s most notorious bank robbers. Criminal justice can sure make for some odd bedfellows.
“However I do think the institution both attracts and creates a disproportionate number of arseholes,…”
I tend to agree. I suspect that certain personality types are attracted to the position, similarly to how politics seems to attract certain types of people.
Most people seem to view police work as “not something I want to do”. For myself, that’s ultimately because I don’t consider myself wise enough, invulnerable enough, nor so important to humanity’s welfare that I should have authority over all other peoples’ lives and choices. I wouldn’t be surprised if most who decline police work feel some variant of that too.
“How a very experienced escort deals with a nasty competitor….
“(Inspired by a comment made by Dr. Laura Agustin about a statement made by Gloria Steinem.)”
So, granting Steinem’s premise that “invasion” applies to something that may be entering (penetrating? touching? landing upon?) one’s body regardless of consensuality…and applying her assertion that “invasion of the body” distinguishes an activity from all other work and livelihoods…
Therefore, a rock musician’s work is different from all others because it involves invasion of the ears by potentially-damaging levels of musical sound…a jack-hammer operator’s job is different because extreme vibration invades the joints…coal miner’s is different because coal dust invades the lungs…an exterminator’s is different because toxic insecticide invades through the skin…a carpenter’s is different because chemically-treated sawdust invades his eyes… cook’s hamburger grill job is different than all others because it involves invasion of the body by damaging heat…a soldier’s job is different than all others because it involves invasion of the body by bullets and shrapnel…
Well, by golly, Gloria may be right! Each of these jobs involves bodily invasion and is different from all of the others!